The Test of A God
by pierre15208
Summary: In the Song of the Goddesses, Keiichi is made a God through the love of a Goddess. In this story, find out how Godhood changes his life as well as his relationship with Belldandy. A direct sequel to "Song of the Goddesses"
1. Part 1

**The Test of a God.**

04/07/10

**By: Pierre R. Wheaton**

**Welcome to The Test of a God. This is my second fan fiction piece based on the Ah, My Goddess franchise. This piece is intended to be a sequel to "The Song of the Goddesses." It is set one week after the events in "Song." All the usual disclaimers apply here. (_Don't consider the plot of this work part of the AMG canon, the characters of this work are the property of Fujishima-sensei, but the plot of the work is mine, I expect the AMG fanboys to rip this thing to shreds, blah, blah, blah.)_ This is very different territory for me because this piece will look at Keiichi as he learns to live with his newly acquired God powers. Also Urd will play a much larger role than she did in "Song" and Marller and Hild also make their debuts in this fanfic. As you well know, very little attention is paid to the role of Gods in Ah My Goddess. As such, there is little information to go on in terms of what Gods do in the Ah My Goddess universe. I am writing this piece under the assumption that gods are treated similar to goddesses in terms of licensing, training, powers and so on. As the old saying goes, when you assume you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me". That being said, boldly I go into the unknown. **

**Be forewarned, the first chapter will be a bit steamy, those of you not used to seeing Kei and Bell in this light may want to move on to the second chapter. I don't get explicit. I have way too much respect for Fujishima-sensei's characters to drag them into the world of hentai, but those of you who aren't willing to think of a horny Belldandy who is not under the influence of an Urd-potion might be a bit disturbed by these events. But anyway, Enjoy.**

**©2010, Pierre R. Wheaton.**

Chapter 1

Monday. One week after the Events of The Song of the Goddesses.

Despite being a newly minted Second Class God who was no longer subject to human frailties and weaknesses, Keiichi Morisato felt like he had run a marathon and then had been ordered to crawl around the world on his hands and knees. The reason for his divine fatigue was laying in his room next to him and sharing his futon. It took the form of one Goddess First Class, Second Category, Unlimited License, who's name was Belldandy. Keiichi had found out over the past week, what happens when a goddess's sex drive has been unlocked.

After he and Belldandy had returned from Heaven where he had been rewarded with Godhood due to his exemplary service to the divine realm over the years in a hearing that was supposed to have determined the fate of said goddess after she disobeyed a direct order from Kami-sama, Keiichi and his goddess got busy making up for lost time in the love department. It turned out that when a goddess's sex drive was unlocked, her desire for satisfaction was insatiable.

While Bell continued to be the warm, sweet, kind goddess that everyone loved while in public, when she was alone with Keiichi in his room, in his bed, she became a highly passionate and skilled lover who took as much delight in pleasuring Keiichi sexually as she did in fixing his food. She insisted on making love multiple times a day, whenever the two had a spare moment.

While Keiichi was excited that he and Belldandy had finally overcome the fears and trepidations that held their relationship back for such a long time, and he had total reassurance from Kami-sama that they would never be separated, all this love-making was definitely wearing him out. It's not that he didn't enjoy it, far from it, he just wanted a break to catch his breath. And this night and day personality change from Belldandy was freaking him out.

It was after a particularly aggressive session that Keiichi laid the law down. The two were laying on his futon. Sweat was pouring off of their naked bodies as the energy from their love-making was dissipating.

"Belldandy?"

"Yes, Keiichi, my love?" Belldandy answered, her voice husky with lust. She glowed as her goddess powers reacted to the frenzied activities of a few minutes ago.

"Bell, I really do love you.", Keiichi said, "And I love that we are finally giving each other what we've been longing for since we met, but I think that maybe we need to slow down a little."

Bell looked at him slightly confused. "Are you not satisfied with our love-making? Am I not giving you the pleasure you desire?"

"Yes, I mean no...I mean...I am totally satisfied with what we are doing. I have never felt anything like it before. It's so intense, and I can feel our powers surging as we do this, but you're wearing me out, Bell. I don't know how much longer I can keep up with you." I never want to stop making love to you, but can we just not do it every spare moment?"

Belldandy sat up and looked at Keiichi "Well, how often should we make love?"

Keiichi thought for a second, "What about once a week?"

Bell quickly said "No! at least twice a week." By the tone of her voice, she was not going to budge from that position.

Keiichi knew that once Belldandy set her mind to something, she never moved from it. Arguing with her was pretty much impossible. "All right, twice a week, but I choose the days. Deal?" He put his hand out so they could shake on it.

"Deal!" Bell crowed happily and then grabbed Keiichi and pulled him down to the futon for another session of seduction.

After about an hour, when Bell had finally had enough and was sleeping quietly. Keiichi put on his clothes and staggered back out into the Tea Room. There he saw Belldandy's older sister, Urd sitting at the low table drinking a cup of sake.

"My, my, my, haven't we been the busy little beaver." Urd said smugly. She was in seventh heaven that Keiichi and Belldandy had finally moved their relationship to a more mature level, and she was quick to take the credit for it despite having very little to do with making it happen. "You look like something Velsper dragged in. Sit down and have a drink with me. It'll make you feel better." Keiichi grabbed a sake cup and poured himself a shot and sat down across the table from Urd. She took a drink and looked at Keiichi saying, "Well, how's the first week of the rest of your life as a God going Keiichi. How does it feel to be truly divine?"

Kei responded "It feels quite different in many ways. I don't get hungry even though I can eat a horse. I can drink as much sake as I want and not feel a thing. I'm not too cold, nor too hot. I see things in a totally different way now. I can see and feel different dimensions. I feel full of power, although I have yet to really learn now to use it. My mind works so differently from before. I can calculate math problems in a second that would have taken me minutes. I wish I would have at all this energy and power when I was in school, I would have aced all my classes. But at the same time, I feel totally connected to Heaven. Yggdrasil is always just a thought away. It's a bit overwhelming at times. Now I can understand how you goddesses feel all the time."

Urd looked down at her sake cup and said "Belldandy and I will work on helping you develop your powers. And you'll eventually get used to the way things work as a God, but how about you and Belldandy? Have you noticed anything different about her in the last week?"

Keiichi said "Yeah, when we're alone and making love, she's so aggressive and forthcoming. It's totally the opposite of her usual personality. Normally she's so shy and loving and warm, but when we're alone, look out, it's like she becomes a completely different person. And she wants to make love all the time, whenever we're not doing anything else, she's always dragging me off to my room to make love. I'm not used to that especially from Belldandy"

"Well, Keiichi, that is what happens when you unlock a goddess's sex drive. She becomes insatiable. She can't get enough. Think about it, Keiichi. You know how Belldandy handles her emotions. She puts them out there for all to see and she also puts those same feelings into everything she does. That's her personality, Keiichi. All or nothing.

"And now that she knows that she will always have you by her side, and that she can completely give herself over to you without having to check her feelings, you shouldn't be surprised that she comes over as strongly as she does. The first time you two made love, I felt the energy that your coupling produced all the way into Nekomi City. It was a powerful magical force that literally knocked me out of my chair. You two had some seriously pent-up desires that needed to be released. What you are experiencing now is Belldandy at her most powerful.

"She didn't feel ready to proceed with becoming more intimate with you because she was not sure that you could handle her in your human form, and also she was not quite sure about how you felt about her. You're a strong person Keiichi, but until you became a God, you would not have been able to withstand an unrestrained Belldandy.

"And now that you finally manned up and told her how you felt about her in front of Kami-sama himself and all of the goddesses in Heaven, she now knows that there is nothing standing in her way from giving you all that she has for you. I have to give you credit, Keiichi. You have a flair for the dramatic. It took you forever to tell Belldandy you loved her, but you couldn't have picked a better place or time to do it."

Urd finished her sake and stood up from the table. "Eventually she'll settle down, but you might was well expect that when she wants to get together with you, she's going to throw everything she has at you."

Keiichi said "Just curious. Had Belldandy decided to become intimate while I was still human, what would have happened?"

Urd walked around to Keiichi's side of the table, stood behind him, leaned over and put her hands on his shoulders. She whispered in his ear, "You wouldn't have lasted five minutes. But rest assured, it would have been the greatest five minutes in your **entire **

life." She tapped him on the shoulders twice, turned, and as she walked out of the room, she said "See you later, Keiichi. By the way, Bell's a much better lover than Peorth, but neither of them could hold a candle to me." She winked at him and left the room.

Keiichi gulped and mentally digested all that Urd had to say.

Chapter 2.

A few minutes after Urd left, Belldandy walked into the Tea Room. She was dressed in a long blue robe, and as usual, she looked gorgeous, even right after waking up. "Good Morning Keiichi" she said brightly as she kissed him on the cheek. "I trust you had a good night's sleep?, I'll have breakfast ready soon."

"Ok, Belldandy." A few seconds later,

"Bell?"

"Yes, Keiichi?"

"I'm sorry if I came across as a bit of a jerk back there."

"Why are you apologizing, Keiichi?"

"About my wanting to slow down our 'romantic activities'."

"What are you talking about?" Bell asked quizzically.

"Well, Belldandy, this last week has been so crazy for us. You've been so passionate and so aggressive about our love-making, and I'm still not quite used to the way you're coming on to me. I'm used to you being kind and gentle, but when we're alone and being intimate, you become so driven and obsessed. It's like I'm in love with two different people. Plus the fact that I'm still trying to get the hang of all these God powers. These changes that have come over us lately have been so disruptive to our lives, that maybe I was being too harsh on you when I told you we should slow down a little."

Bell walked over to Keiichi, sat down across the table from him and looked into his eyes. She spoke softly, "Keiichi, I'm sorry if I have come over too strong. I should have considered that this is a difficult time for you. I should have considered your feelings. I was selfish, and I beg your forgiveness.

"But, I just wanted you to know how much I love you, and how much I want to give all of myself to you, just as I want you to do the same for me. I have finally crossed that last obstacle that kept me away from truly showing you the total depth of my love. And when you told me that you loved me in heaven before My Lord and my fellow goddesses, the feelings of joy and happiness washed over me like a mighty flood. I finally heard the words that I have been waiting to hear from the man that I love. And I was so excited to give you what you wanted most, that I got carried away. I understand now that maybe it's best if we slow down so that you don't have to feel so overwhelmed."

Bell lowered her head as if she was expecting Keiichi to punish her. But he walked around the table and took his goddesses hands. "Belldandy, your apology has been accepted, although there was no need to apologize in the first place. We have a lifetime to love each other, we will make this work, just as we always have. And by the way, I've changed my mind. We can make love as much as you want. Just take it easy on me, okay?" Belldandy put her arms around Keiichi, held him tight and said "I can live with that." After a minute, she released him and said "Okay, it's time for breakfast. Is there anything special that you want?"

Keiichi said "Other than you, no. Surprise me. Also is it possible, if you don't have anything planned that we can start working on teaching me about my powers. I feel kind of useless being in a temple full of goddesses and not being able to pull my weight magically."

"Yes, Keiichi, Urd and I can help you with your powers. Bear in mind, that It won't be easy. It takes a long time for Gods and Goddesses to learn how to control their powers and you shouldn't be disappointed if you aren't successful the first time out. But with your focus and drive, you should catch on very quickly." Belldandy got to her feet, gave Keiichi a little wave and walked into kitchen to start breakfast.

After breakfast, Keiichi, Belldandy and Urd went out into the courtyard to assess Keiichi's powers. Bell started out. "The first thing we have to determine is what is your dominant element. Every God and Goddess has a particular element in which their powers work best. My element is Wind, Urd's is Fire/Electricity, Skuld's is Water. What Urd and I will do is test you in all four major elements, and whichever you have the most success in will be the one that is your dominant element."

Urd stood in front of Keiichi and said. "The first element we'll try is Electricity/Fire. I'm going to ask you to try and generate a ball of electricity. That is the most basic electrical spell. If you can do that easily, then we'll know that your powers are biased towards Electricity/Fire. The first thing I want you to do is to hold your hands out, and use your mind to see a ball of electricity forming in you hands."

Keiichi held his hands out and visualized a ball of electricity, he focused his mind on the space between his hands and concentrated intensely on making the ball appear. After a few seconds, his mind's eye could see a ball of white-hot electricity forming. It was glowing in his hands, sparks flying off and the smell of ozone hung in the air. Urd asked him "Do you see the ball?" He said "Yes, I do. It's very bright and powerful." Urd responded, "That's good, now what I want you to do is to continue to concentrate on that ball of energy and visualize it becoming an algorithm like a computer program." Keiichi continued concentrating on the ball and slowly it unfolded itself into an program, one of immense difficulty, harder than any programming language he'd seen at Nekomi Tech. "Urd, I'm not sure I can solve this program, I've never seen code like this before."

Belldandy gave encouragement. "Keiichi, you can do this. It looks hard, but you can solve this. It's the most important part of the spell. Let your mind do the work. Visualize the code being compiled, this is how you will make what is in your mind appear in reality."

Keiichi turned his mind's focus on compiling the spell's programming. At first, the spell started compiling easily, but as time went on, and the code became more and more complex, Keiichi's concentration began to waiver. He felt a pain in his mind that intensified as the multi-layered code compiled faster and faster. It looped and branched back on itself in indiciperable knots.. Decision trees flew by faster and faster with more complex variables. Three, five and ten-dimensional variables combined to make the program almost impossible to compile. He struggled to keep the code flowing together as his head continued to hurt more and more. The pain escalated to beyond tolerable and his face screwed up and turned bright red but still he pressed on. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the lines of the program continued to compile. Keiichi started to feel the ball of electricity forming above his hands. He could feel the heat and the sparks prickling his fingers. The ball continued to take shape and form, while the pain kept on assaulting his mind. Just as he reached the final lines of the program, the pain was too much for him to take and he broke his concentration. The ball of electricity dissolved into thin air and he collapsed to the ground breathing heavily. All his strength left him and the pain in his head subsided abruptly, but he felt that if he could have just held on for a few seconds longer, he could have completed the spell. Defeated, he lay in the grass trying to regain his strength while Urd and Belldandy rushed to his aid.

"Keiichi, Keiichi!" Belldandy cried, "Are you all right?" as she ran to his side. She knelt down in the grass and cradled Keiichi's head in her lap. "Urd!" she said, "He's burning up!"

Keiichi groaned and said with a mixture of weariness and dejection, "Yeah, I'm OK, I wish I could have just held on a little longer. I was almost there."

Urd looked at the both of them. "Hmph! Even a simple spell like that should not have knocked you off your feet."

Keiichi sputtered, "THAT WAS A SIMPLE SPELL?, It almost took my head off."

Urd said, "Yeah, that's the first spell that a young God or Goddess learns in the Fire/ Electricity element. The difference being that it's easier to learn spells like that one when you are young, because your mind is much more pliable and able to withstand the stress. In your case it's gonna be a lot harder for you because you're coming into your power at a much later age. Your mind is much more set. It's not impossible for you to catch up, but it's apparent to me that Fire/Electricity is not your dominant element."

Belldandy put her hand on Keiichi's forehead and he could feel his strength returning as she sent healing energy into his body. "When you feel better, we'll try the water element, Keiichi. Just relax and let me take care of you, OK?" She looked down at her man and smiled at him. "For a first attempt, you did very well, don't despair, we'll find your dominant element."

Keiichi put himself in his goddess's capable hands and said "With you helping me, Bell, I know we can do it." And he drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 3

Tuesday Morning

The next day, Belldandy, Keiichi and Urd returned to the temple courtyard to try the water element. Only this time instead of creating a ball of fire, Keiichi was asked to create a waterspout in the koi pond. He used the same procedure as before. He visualized a waterspout in his mind, converted it into a program and started to compile it. The waterspout came easier to Keiichi than the ball of fire, but in the end, he still was not quite able to finish the spell. His concentration had wavered at the very end just like before. But he did take more confidence from his efforts. He tried twice more to make a waterspout, but while he came close both times, he couldn't complete the working. The pain of such intense computation had repeatedly tripped him up. While Kei was dejected at his lack of success, Belldandy continued to offer encouragement.

"C'mon, Keiichi, I know you can do it!" She ran up to him and enveloped him in a big tight hug, as if to send some of her energy to him. Keiichi returned the hug with one of his own, holding and loving his goddess. He didn't want to let go until Urd stepped in between them. "OK, you two. There's plenty of time for that later on. Let's try the wind element."

This time Belldandy asked Kei to make the wind chimes near the entrance of the temple ring by creating a gentle breeze. But unlike the fire and water elements which strained his concentration to its limits before besting him, raising the wind spell was easy. The problem was that once he got the spell going, it became too powerful and instead of a gentle breeze, it became a gale force wind that ripped half the shingles off the temple roof and blew Urd across the courtyard. It took a mighty effort by Belldandy to quiet the winds and return them to stillness. He tried once again to raise a breeze and was able to do it, but he could not modulate the wind's intensity and he lost control of it again. Belldandy and Urd quickly ordered him to stop before he caused any more damage.

A visibly shaken and none too happy Urd shook out her hair, pulled Belldandy aside and said "Keiichi can obviously raise wind spells, but can't control them. Maybe this is his secondary element rather than his primary. There's only one element left, Earth."

Belldandy added "Earth spells are very hard to learn. They require a lot of concentration and control. They're even harder than Fire or Water spells. There are not many Gods or Goddesses that have mastered the Earth element. If Keiichi can't handle them, the best we can do is help him to learn Wind spells."

Urd agreed and after allowing Keiichi to rest, they walked him over to a large, heavy rock that was sunk into the ground. Belldandy said "Keiichi, I want you to make this boulder float into the air. As I said, don't be discouraged that you can't do..." She was suddenly stopped short and gaped in surprise as Keiichi was not only able to levitate the boulder but had effortlessly floated it around the courtyard as if he was doing it for years. Urd and Belldandy looked at each other dumbfounded. Keiichi was moving the boulder with no stress at all. He barely needed to concentrate in order to make the massive rock do his bidding.

Urd said "Well, it looks like we found his primary element." Belldandy agreed.

She then ran up to Keiichi who was still floating the rock in midair, by then he was rotating the rock and flipping it over as if he was a giant tossing a pebble.

"Keiichi, that's wonderful! You are awesome! How were you able to do the spell so easily?" Belldandy asked excitedly.

"I don't know." Keiichi responded. "I just visualized the rock rising in the air as you and Urd told me, and as soon as I saw it in my mind, the code unfolded and compiled just like that," He snapped his fingers for effect. He then lowered the rock to the ground softly and with total ease. He didn't even look winded or tired. Urd sauntered up to him. "Good job, Keiichi. I am impressed. Then again, you are a bit of a rockhead. " she said while rapping her knuckles against Keiichi's head playfully. "So it's just as well you'd be inclined towards Earth spells."

"Shaddup, Urd!" Keiichi grumbled only half perturbed at Urd's mild insult. "So what does all this mean?" He asked.

Belldandy answered, "Well, it means that you have the capability to use magic on any kind of object that is of the earth itself. Rocks, dirt, mud, plants. Anything that is found of, in, or under the Earth can be influenced by Earth Magic. Once you get strong enough, you could even create a volcanic eruption, or cause plants to grow quickly. You could shape and mold rock, the possibilities are endless. And considering that you are also capable of at least raising wind spells, with some work, you can combine those elements for some interesting uses." Belldandy seemed delighted at this latest development. "That you were able to show such an impressive command of basic Earth Magic in your first attempt is incredible."

Keiichi felt ten feet tall when Belldandy complimented him on his success, but Urd quickly brought him back down to earth. "Keiichi, sorry to rain on your parade, but even though you have done an outstanding job so far, you still have a long way to go before you can match up with Belldandy and I. We've been at this for far longer than you've been alive, and there's still much that even we don't know. You're going to have to buckle down and work hard to become stronger in your spellcasting, and it will only get harder, so I suggest we get to work getting you up to speed. After all, Marller is still out there and even though she's a lousy excuse for a demon, she can still kick your butt. And since she hasn't attacked us in a while, that just means that she and Hild might have something up their sleeves, so we need to be ready." Keiichi and Belldandy agreed with Urd.


	2. Part 2

Chapter 4

Day after day, Keiichi and the two goddesses worked on strengthening his powers. It was apparent that Keiichi was a natural for casting Earth spells. After succeeding at levitating one rock, the goddesses had him trying to levitate two rocks and then three. All these tasks Keiichi managed with little trouble. They then told him to try and keep four rocks in the air while Urd and Belldandy tried to distract him. Urd threw lightning bolts at him while Bell caused violent wind storms to blow all around him. The first few times, his concentration had broken while he was trying to dodge Urd's thunderbolts and Belldandy's winds kept blowing the rocks this way and that and he had lost track of where they all were while dealing the goddess' distractions, but Keiichi was eventually able to keep all his rocks in the air in the face of Urd's strongest electrical storms and Belldandy hurling tornado strength winds at him.

The next lesson was self-defense. Urd tried to attack Keiichi by casting thunderbolts, while Keiichi tried to use his Earth powers to defend himself. He raised one of his boulders to block the spell. While he was able to block the first attack, he didn't expect an immediate second bolt and got the shock of his life when Urd's attack hit him. While it hurt like hell, It didn't cause lasting damage. Keiichi got thrown across the courtyard, but got up quickly, only to face Belldandy. She looked at him with fire in her eyes and, despite being her lover, she showed Keiichi no quarter, raising a powerful gust of wind, directing it at Kei, but he blunted her attack by lifting a boulder and hurling it at her, which distracted her long enough for him to cause one of the trees to wrap its branches around her and hold her tight. Bell struggled against the tree limbs, but Keiichi's concentration in willing the tree to hold her was resolute. She gave up and went limp, which caused Keiichi to release his grip and catch his goddess as she fell into his arms. He laid her down on the grass and tried to wake her up.

"Belldandy!, Belldandy! Are you all right?"

Urd looked her over and said "Yeah, she's all right, she just went dormant. Interesting, Keiichi, we haven't even taught you how to use plants yet, and you thought of that all on your own, good thinking."

Belldandy woke up "Very good, Keiichi, that was a fine defense, well played."

"You're okay aren't you?"

"Oh, I'm fine."

"That look in your eyes, just before you attacked me. I've never seen you so mad."

"I wasn't really mad, I had just gotten into the exercise and let my competitive spirit come out."

"Sheesh, If that's your 'competitive spirit', I wanna make sure I'm not on the wrong side when you're really pissed off."

Belldandy laughed at Keiichi, kissed him and said, "There's no chance of that happening. Also I did it so you could get an idea of how fiercely an opponent will attack you. If we're going to practice, we have to do so as realistically as possible. This is not a game, Keiichi. Demon attacks are very serious, so we can't afford to be anything less than fully prepared."

That last point had been driven home in more than a few ways. He remembered the Lord of Terror incident and the Angel Eater battle as well. Hild and Marller held nothing back, and threw everything they had at Keiichi, Lind and Skuld. He resolved that he was never going to be caught short again. He was going to show these goddesses that he could defend himself, them, and his home against the nastiest of demons.

The deities went back to work honing Keiichi's powers and were so involved in their activities that they failed to notice someone, or something watching them. High up in one of the cherry trees hidden by its beautiful white blossoms sat a small otherworldly creature. This creature looked like a goddesses angel, but had a more sinister appearance to it. It had pale white skin, tiny horns protruding out of the top of its head, black wings and a forked tongue darted in and out of its toothy mouth like that of a snake. It made no noise, and caused no alarm. It's mission: simply to watch, and report.

The creature watched Belldandy, Urd and Keiichi all day long, never giving away its position and even with their enhanced senses, the three never detected the little visitor. When it had seen enough to make its report, it silently took wing and flew away.

On the outskirts of Nekomi City, in a condemned apartment building slated for demolition. She sat at a table waiting for her familiar to return. Her hands drumming the tabletop impatiently. She mumbled disgustedly under her breath. Her mind was eager to digest the information provided by the familiar as to what her nemeses were up to. She had gotten word from her boss that there was unusual levels of energy coming from the temple in the last week and she was asked, no, ordered to check it out. It had been a while since she had been given orders from her superior, and her last attempt to cause trouble for those pesky goddesses had gone horribly awry, and had gotten her in boiling hot water with the boss. But this time, she was determined to restore her good name.

That name was Marller. She was a First Class Demon with an unlimited license. She was tasked with the never ending job of trying to increase the shares of humans accepting contracts with demons over ones accepting contracts with goddesses. Since time began, goddesses and demons were in an eternal battle to arrange contracts with the human race. While goddesses provided humans with wishes free of charge, demons would enter into a contract with a human for any reason or desire...as long as they got something back in return. Demons maintained that their contracts were more in line with what human nature expected. A delicate balance existed and both sides worked hard to push it in their favor. Marller had been locked in a struggle with Belldandy, Urd and Skuld since they arrived on Earth to live with Keiichi. She had tried multiple times to get rid of the trio, but to no avail. She was in a foul mood and, needing a victory, had sent her lackey to the temple to see what he could see.

Her request was answered a few seconds later when the familiar flew through the window and landed on the table. It hopped onto her shoulder and whispered in her ear.

"Hmmm...what?...what?...I don't believe it!...Damn! I have to get over there and check it out. But how to do so without being spotted. I guess I can hide in one of the trees." Buoyed by the news that her familiar revealed, Marller took to the skies and flew to the temple. She lucked out when she got to Tarikihongan, there wasn't anyone in the courtyard to see her arrive. Keiichi and the goddesses had gone inside for some refreshments. She landed in the very same tree her familiar had used for its stakeout and she cast a glamour spell to conceal her form. Sitting on a branch with cherry twigs poking her all over, Marller was not thrilled with her hiding place, and that only served to piss her off even more, but she was willing to put up with it if she could find out the source of the unusual energy readings. _"C'mon out Belldandy. Where are you?"_ Marller mumbled to herself.

She had been sitting in the tree for five minutes when Keiichi and Belldandy came back outside to practice some more. They were completely unaware of Marller's presence. Bell took off and flew up high into the air and descended rapidly towards Keiichi who was standing on the ground. As she flew out of the sun, she shot powerful pulses of energy at Keiichi, who raised a wall of rock to shield him from the blasts. In return he shattered the rock wall and shot it at Belldandy who deftly dodged the attack and deflected the shrapnel with her own wind storms. Keiichi lifted a rock and sent it flying towards his goddess who used a "wind knife" spell to slice the rock in two. She then tried to seal Keiichi in a "wind cage" spell, and nearly did it before he was able to disrupt that spell by using his control of wind to blow a wave of water from the koi pond towards Belldandy. While he still could not control the water directly, he could use his limited wind abilities to push the water into a wave form.

Marller was watching all this in total disbelief. She could not believe what she was seeing. Not only did it appear that Keiichi was attacking Belldandy, but that he was using magic to do so. **But wasn't Keiichi human?**, she reasoned. **Keiichi's not a god! How the hell can he use magic?** But then she took a closer look at Keiichi's face and that told her everything. She saw the crescent moon mark on his forehead and nearly fell out of her blind. **Son of a bitch, he's a GOD? But how? **She HAD to get this information to her boss and fast. She didn't care that she got caught, she had found out the source of the energy coming from the temple! She flew up out of the tree with all speed and made for the sky.

Keiichi saw Marller bolt from the tree. "Belldandy! It's Marller, she saw us and she's trying to get away!" He immediately sent one of his practice boulders flying towards the escaping demon, who was rising fast. Belldandy attempted to give chase, but she was too late as Marller disappeared in a flash of light. "Ha Ha! Too slow, Belldandy!"

Chapter 5

After flying back to her apartment complex. Marller cast a demonic access spell to connect her to Niflheim, the world of the demons. Her license gave her free authority to talk to her boss without having to deal with underlings. Marller's evil heart leaped with a mix of surprise and joy as she waited for the spell to connect. No doubt, this news would win her favor with the boss. "C'mon, c'mon!" she grumbled. Finally the spell connected and she could see the face of her boss looking back at her. A face that no matter how many times Marller had seen it never ceased to send a chill down her back.

Hild.

She was the head of the demonic realm as well as the mother of the goddess named Urd. Like her daughter, Hild's hair was platinum blond and her skin was the color of polished bronze. She wore rings on all ten fingers, multiple bracelets around her wrists and bangles in her hair to restrain the enormous power that she possessed. It was said that Hild could wield as much power as Kami-sama himself. Like Urd she was not afraid to wear clothing that emphasized her cleavage and mile-long legs. She was lust personified, and she knew it. Hild shared the same temperament as Urd. Moody, vain, impulsive, cunning, and utterly unpredictable. Means driven to the exclusion of the ends. Only while Urd had her goddess side to balance out her demonic impulses, Hild had no such counterweight. She was demon through and through. And she used all the weapons in her arsenal in her battle against Keiichi and the goddesses.

"Marller, dear." Hild purred with a voice as creamy as it was chilling. " I do hope you brought me some good news. I'm not in the mood for games."

"Yes, Lady Hild." Marller stammered. "I have very good news. I have discovered the origins of the unusual energy coming from the temple." The frightened demon told Hild the results of her reconnaissance. Hild was not impressed. "I thought you said you had good news. I noticed that those energy readings were familiar." Hild retorted. "If anything, this makes our objective more of a challenge."

Marller was at a loss for words. "Marller," Hild continued, "The fact that Keiichi is now a God makes them that much harder to defeat. He may not have much power now, but you **do** know what happened when Keiichi and Belldandy spent their first night together, sexually speaking don't you?" Marller stared blankly at her boss. "It means that they are magically coupled together. They can share their powers to become stronger than their individual strengths. Hopefully, they haven't figured that part out yet. Otherwise..."

Marller interrupted, "So what do we do about this, Lady Hild?"

Hild ignored the rudeness of Marller's outburst and said, "We can still move on with the plan I have concocted." With that she stepped aside to let Marller see what she had been working on. Behind Hild on a stone slab lay a figure that looked like someone the demon knew very well. The figure was unconscious and naked. "Is that...?" Marller asked.

Hild stopped her with a stare. "No, Marller, it looks like her, but it is actually a demon minion of mine who has offered her services to the cause. I have cast upon her a glamour spell that makes her look like our target even down to her goddess symbol. She is totally indistinguishable from her. She will infiltrate Heaven, take control of Yggdrasil and will disconnect those goddesses from the system, leaving them weak and powerless. It is then we will attack and rid the planet of them for good." Hild seemed full of herself, "A sound plan if I do say so, don't you agree?"

Marller gulped and quickly agreed with the demon boss. "So, Lady Hild, how will she disconnect the goddesses from Yggdrasil. The system admins up there will be watching everything that goes on."

Hild looked at Marller as if she was addressing a dim child and held up a crystal clear cylinder the size of a tube of lipstick. "With this."

"And what is that?" Marller asked incredulously.

"It's a data cylinder loaded with a powerful shadow program. Once run, it will take control of the system that monitors the energy flow to the goddesses, disconnect them from Yggdrasil and present to the system admins a status screen that shows that the goddesses are still connected. The program will then erase itself from memory, leaving the goddesses and Keiichi separated from Yggdrasil. The only way that they can be reconnected is by completely rebooting the major system that controls the energy transfer subsystem. And with Yggdrasil being as complicated as it is, a reboot of that system should take at least a day, which should give us plenty of time to dispatch those goddesses."

Marller was overjoyed. "A perfect plan, Lady Hild! I couldn't have done better myself."

"Yes Marller, I know it's perfect and I also know that you **couldn't** have done better. But think about it, who better to create a likeness of her daughter than her own mother?" Hild said as she stroked the hair of the unconscious minion disguised as Urd.

Chapter 6

Belldandy and Keiichi hurried into the temple and found Urd in the Tea Room with a cup of sake. She had just about to take a sip when Belldandy interrupted. "Urd! It's Marller, she was spying on us. We tried to chase her, but she got away!" Belldandy said excitedly.

Urd slammed down the cup sloshing sake all over the table. "Damn!, I had a feeling that she would be up to something. And where Marller is, Hild won't be too far behind. I'm guessing that all the magical activity around the temple in the past week caught their attention. Whatever those two are planning, it will be trouble."

"Keiichi", Urd continued, "Look's like you're getting thrown into the fire before you're ready. We have no choice but to get ready and defend the temple."

Keiichi responded, "Maybe we can get Skuld to upgrade Banpei for us. He usually is pretty successful against Marller. Come to think of it, I haven't seen or heard her around lately."

Urd looked at Keiichi, shook her head, and said "Well, if you two love birds would come out of your nest once in a while, you'd have known that our dear Skuld had to go back to Heaven to take care of some system maintenance on Yggdrasil. She's part of the team that had to reprogram the wish servers so they would no longer accept crazy wishes like yours that started this whole adventure in the first place."

Keiichi and Belldandy looked sheepishly at each other, and said together, "Sorry."

Urd said "Can't say I blame you. It's kind of nice not hearing that high pitched whine when I'm trying to watch TV, or having to deal with random explosions all the time. I swear that girl can be a holy terror."

Even though Skuld eventually accepted the fact that Keiichi and Belldandy were going to be inseparable, and she was finally convinced that she could still have her favorite big sister around as much as she wanted, she still wasn't totally thrilled about the whole idea. Fortunately, she had never walked in on Keiichi and Belldandy while they were...indisposed, or else the screams will still be echoing through the temple a week later. For that reason and to insure his personal safety, Keiichi decided that it would be better if Belldandy continued to use the Tea Room as her personal space, even though she expressed a desire to move into Keiichi's room with him. He wanted to keep the peace as much as possible. So if and when Bell and Kei were in the mood to be amorous, Bell would slip from the Tea Room into his room after Skuld had fallen asleep. But since Skuld had been in Heaven all week, Belldandy just preferred to stay with Keiichi in his room all the time.

"We're going to have to increase our training and be ready for an attack that can come at any time." Belldandy said. "I'll start working with Keiichi on more advanced spells. Urd, if you can find out anything that shows what Marller and Hild are up to, let us know."

With that, the goddesses and Keiichi split up to prepare for what lay ahead. Kei and Bell went back out into the courtyard to get in some extra training. Keiichi responded well to the intense battle scenarios Belldandy created. His Earth spells came easier and more natural to the point that he could call up even the highest level spells strictly on reflex alone without even thinking about the intense calculations and compiling needed. His ability to control Wind spells improved remarkably, but he still had a problem with the finer control. Too many times he would try to generate a gentle breeze but ended up almost blowing the roof off the temple. But overall his magical abilities improved steadily with each passing day.

Later on that night as Keiichi and Belldandy prepared for bed, he looked over at his goddess lying next to him and said, "Belldandy, I'm nervous. I've dealt with Marller and Hild before as a human, but never as a God. I wonder if I have the power to stand against them."

Belldandy sat up, looked at Keiichi and answered. "Keiichi, I have never seen a God or a Goddess embrace their powers as quickly as you have. It becomes so natural to you. It took me years, even centuries to get to where I am today. And I still have much more to learn. I am amazed by your abilities, Keiichi. You still have a long way to go and battling Marller and Hild won't be easy. But I have every confidence that you'll be all right." She then leaned over Keiichi and put her face close to his saying gently., "After all, you have me by your side."

Keiichi said "I guess I can say that I'm successful so far because I have a great teacher", saying this as he stroked Belldandy's cheek. The goddess sighed at his touch and nuzzled her face against his hand. Her skin so warm and soft. "This teacher has been so supportive and kind. She's challenged me in so many ways and even when I make a mistake, she's never mad at me. I would have never been able to do this stuff if it hadn't been for her." Bell leaned in to give her man a kiss when Keiichi said, "Yeah, that Urd is one great teacher." which caused Belldandy to lightly scold; "Oh, Keiichi! as she playfully slapped his face. Bell laid her head on Keiichi's chest as he drew her closer to him and put his arms around her. She responded by snuggling ever closer and saying "Hmmmm. You're so warm, I'm so happy that I'm where I've always wanted to be. Right here, right now with the man that I love."

He could feel both of their hearts beating once again in perfect unison. The week since he came back from Heaven was the most blissful and relaxing time since Belldandy came to live with him. Their relationship which had been at such a standstill for so long moved ahead in giant steps over the course of only one week. He counted himself as the luckiest man alive. He held Belldandy tightly and never wanted to let her go.

Keiichi remembered all the times that Belldandy battled so many foes to protect him, and he could only stand by and watch helplessly while she put her life on the line to save him. And in all that time she never complained, or felt put upon. She did it with a smile and maintained that it was her duty as a goddess under contract to defend him. At first, it was because of the contract that Belldandy kept him safe, but as she came to know and eventually to love Keiichi, she did it because she could not bear to lose him.

He often felt guilty that he was not able to return the favor. After all, he's the man. It's his job to protect the woman that he loved. But how could a human protect an all-powerful goddess who could destroy the world with a single spell? Even though he knew that he couldn't, that question ate at him and wounded his pride.

But now, because of the love and devotion that Belldandy showed him, and his fervent desire to stand by the woman, the goddess that he finally confessed his love to on the grandest of all stages, he was now able to give back to Belldandy that which she had given to him. He could now fight alongside her. No longer would she have to defend him alone. Now instead of her always being by his side, or him always being by her side, they could go forward together, as equals, side by side.


	3. Part 3

Chapter 7

Heaven. Yggdrasil Main Control Center

Hild's doppelganger proceeded down the main hallway of the Control Center. She tried her best not to look nervous. **"Careful,"** she said to herself. "**The last thing I need is to arouse too much attention. Just get in, run the program and get the hell out before someone starts asking too many questions."** In a hidden pocket of her goddess uniform was the data crystal. She didn't care about the powerful sabotage program encased in the crystal lattice data structure. All she knew was to find an unused terminal, log in, run the program and leave.

She kept walking down the hall was if she belonged there. She nodded at the passing Gods and Goddesses. A few called her by name to say hello, and she spoke cordially and courteously to them. They had no clue what she was really there for. To them, she was Urd. System Administrator Second Class, Limited License. Belldandy's big sister and well-known troublemaker.

The Main Control Center was the most important building in Heaven, for it housed the hopelessly complicated and all-powerful computer system that controlled all life on Earth and in Heaven, Yggdrasil.

Consequently, security here was of the utmost concern. A squad of the strongest and best trained Valkyries in Heaven guarded the main entrance and roamed the vast hallways always looking for something amiss. The security scanners that controlled access to each room in the building were designed to only accept a valid goddess symbol as proof of access.

The Goddess symbol was unique to each Goddess. It was the ultimate form of identification. That symbol showed all the pertinent information about a goddess. From her name, class, license and category to her alliances, job description, access levels and predilections. It was said to be impossible to forge because altering it even in the slightest would change the information encoded within it irrevocably.

But Hild was able to replicate Urd's goddess symbol by saving a stray lock of hair for her daughter during the Angel Eater attacks. During the chaos of that event, no one saw Hild casually snip a single strand of hair from Urd as she lay there unconscious. and put it away for safe keeping. And during the casting of the glamour spell, she was able to successfully encode the genetic information from that lock of hair including all the data needed to recreate a perfect copy of the Urd's Goddess Symbol into the spell. She grafted that information into the demon minion's genetic code. Hild had to perform some powerful masking spells to get the Goddess symbol to override the demon's natural data signature. Spells that only one as devious and powerful as the Daimaikaicho, as she was known, could cast.

So far the spell was holding up perfectly. No security scanner failed to recognize the demon as Urd and even the Valkyries at the main gate who insisted on a thorough check of her Goddess symbol suspected anything was wrong. **"This is a piece of cake, so far."** she said confidently, until she heard a high pitched voice calling from behind her.

"**URD!"**

"**Dammit!, spoke too soon. Don't be nervous, you know what to do, don't blow it!"**

Skuld came running up to the doppelganger, long flowing black hair trailing behind.

"Urd, what are you doing up here? You aren't scheduled for any duty shifts, are you?" Skuld asked.

"Uh...well, no, um '**dammit what's this brat's name again?, oh, yeah...Skuld!' **Skuld. I was called to come up and check out the energy transfer sub-system. I've gotten reports that it's been acting up. Keeps disconnecting people randomly. A real pain in the butt. **'Just like you, you little rugrat!'**"

Skuld looked at Urd as if she'd seen something that wasn't quite right. "Well, I just checked that system a couple days ago, and it looked all right to me. But if you want to re-check it, be my guest." She ran off down the hall without saying another word.

The demon leaned against a wall, scared to death that she gave something away. **"That was too damn close, lemme get going before she comes back and really sees something wrong!"**

She continued down the long hallway until she got to her destination: Auxiliary Control Room 5. She had chosen this room specifically because it had the control console that could access the energy transfer system, but wasn't used for everyday operations, so it wasn't manned unless in emergencies. She paused outside the door, called up her fake goddess symbol and held it up to the scanner. The lights on the panel turned green, and a soft buzz confirmed her identity. The door opened and she slipped in.

The room wasn't as large as the main control rooms but duplicated them in function. There were three rows of consoles lined along the wall and a desk in the center of the room for the system administrator. In front of each desk was a keyboard and screen. The minion sat down in front of the first available desk. As soon as she sat down, the monitor screen blinked on and the words "**Please show your identification."**

She showed her symbol yet again, held it up to the screen and the system responded:

"**Identification Confirmed: Urd, Goddess Second Class, System Administrator."**

She was in, she smiled as she then took out the crystal and placed it on the lit circle to the right of the keyboard.

The screen lit up with the words

**The Running of Third Party Programs at This Terminal by Unauthorized Persons Is Forbidden. System Admin Override? (Y/N)**

She hit Y and for good measure, she showed her goddess symbol again. The system

brought up a command prompt: URD?

At the prompt, the minion typed **URD? Run **

The system responded:

**Shadow Program/Niflheim Enterprises Ver 1.0**

**Please select an option.**

**1)Status Report**

**2)Disconnect Utility**

**3)Reconnect Utility**

**4)Stealth Mode**

**5)Exit**

The minion typed **2**

**Welcome to the Shadow Program Disconnect Utility. Please enter the names of the persons to be disconnected from the system. Rebooting the system will reconnect.**

**URD? Belldandy**

**Confirm Belldandy, Goddess First Class Second Category, Unlimited License? (Y/N) Y**

**URD? Keiichi Morisato**

**Confirm Keiichi Morisato, God Second Class, Limited License? (Y/N) Y**

**URD? Urd**

**The Utility Cannot Disconnect this Goddess while she is Running the Program.**

**URD? Skuld**

**The Utility Cannot Disconnect this Goddess—Unknown Error. **

"**Damn", ** the minion swore, "Why can't Skuld be disconnected?, Oh well, it's not like she has enough power to threaten my master. The two most important ones are taken care of." She brought back up the command line and typed

**URD? Execute.**

The console paused and replied **"The Utility will Disconnect the persons entered from Yggdrasil. To reconnect, reboot energy transfer subsystem. Are you sure you wish to proceed (Y/N)**

She typed in **Y**

After a few seconds, the console blinked wildly, and then responded :"**Belldandy and Keiichi Morisato disconnected from Yggdrasil Energy Transfer System. Press 'S' to transfer modifed status report and erase Utility.**

**URD? S**

After the program generated the fake status screen and deleted itself. The minion called the duty System Administrator and confirmed that the status board indeed showed Belldandy and Keiichi as still connected to Yggdrasil. Her work completed, she straightened up the console, leaving it as she found it and left the Control Center, although in her haste to beat a quick retreat, she had forgotten the data crystal. She didn't realize that until she had left the Control Center and by then, she figured that the damage was already done and she didn't want to get caught going after the crystal. The minion walked down the corridor so as to not raise suspicion, and left the Control Center. Once she had gotten clear of the tight security, she contacted Hild and Marller via a stealth demonic access spell and told them that the program was successful and Bell and Kei were disconnected from Yggdrasil.

"Okay, the subjects are disconnected. Commence attack!"

Hild said "Very good, my minion. Get back here as soon as possible." She then turned to Marller, and said triumphantly, "Now, let's see how these goddesses can handle themselves with no energy!"

Chapter 8

The day had gone by without incident at Tarikihongan Temple. Neither Keiichi, Urd or Belldandy had any idea what was about to happen to them. They had trained as much as they could to withstand a possible attack by Marller and Hild, but having no idea what form that strike would take, they tried to foresee as many possible attack vectors as possible and hoped for the best.

Keiichi felt it first as he was in his room. His mind normally could feel the energy that Yggdrasil provided him as he went about his business, but all of a sudden, he could no longer hear the familiar thrum of energy that signaled an active connection to Yggdrasil. His mind, his thoughts seemed empty and vague. While he felt full of energy, he could also feel that energy slipping away slowly with every second. It felt like a cold emptiness had settled over him, like he was alone. He ran out of his room and looked for Belldandy. Fear came over him as he wondered what was going on. He found Bell in the Tea Room with a blank look on her face. She had been sitting at the table, a cup of tea cooling in front of her. He called out to her,

"Belldandy!, Belldandy!, can you hear me? Belldandy! BELLDANDY!, He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her roughly. BELLDANDY! WAKE UP! SOMETHING IS WRONG!" But Belldandy just looked at him as if she didn't recognize him. "Who are you?" she said blankly. He cringed back in fear and took off looking for Urd. Surely she must know about what's going on here. Keiichi's mind was racing through the possible problems. Was Yggdrasil down? Did he and Belldandy get disconnected from the system? He charged into Urd's room without knocking. "Keiichi! weren't you ever taught not to come into a woman's room without knocking? I might have been indecent!" an indignant Urd screamed. Like Urd ever really cared if Keiichi saw her naked.

"Urd, there's something wrong with me and Belldandy. I can't hear Yggdrasil anymore. I feel my energy slipping away. And Bell has completely shut down. She doesn't even recognize me."

"Son of a bitch!" Urd yelled. "Lemme take a look at Belldandy. If this is what I think it is, Marller and Hild picked the perfect time to attack us, and I don't put it past them to have caused this in the first place! Urd's eyes blazed as she ran from her towards the Tea Room.

One look at the clueless face of Belldandy staring back at her told Urd all she needed to know. "Keiichi, you and Belldandy have been disconnected from Yggdrasil. Somehow, someone shut you two out of the system. You won't be getting any energy from Yggdrasil until the energy transfer subsystem is restarted. Do you have any of those moon rock bracelets left from the Lord of Terror incident?"

"Yeah I have about five left."

"I suggest you break them out and get ready to use them because you're going to need them. It'll take at least a day to reboot the system, and if Marller and Hild attack during that time, which I'm damn sure they will, you and Bell are going to need all the strength you can get. I'm gonna call up to the System Admins and let them know what's going on

here, you get the bracelets ready." Keiichi charged out of the room to get the bracelets.

Urd picked up the telephone and dialed Heaven.

"Brrrrrr"

"Brrrrrr"

"Hello Yggdrasil Main Control, Chrono speaking."

"Yeah, Chrono, this is Urd. Are you the duty System Admin?"

" Yes, Urd, I have the late shift, where are you calling from?"

" I'm calling from the temple. We have a big problem down here, Keiichi and Belldandy have been shut off from Yggdrasil."

"Hold on, Urd." A few seconds pass. "Urd, my board's showing that those two are still connected to the system. Matter of fact, I got a call from you about a half hour ago verifying that Keiichi and Belldandy were still connected."

"That's impossible, Chrono." I didn't call you. I haven't called Heaven in weeks."

"Urd, I have it logged here." Chrono replied, eyes darting from screen to screen and fingers flying impossibly fast over her keyboard. "You called from Auxiliary Control Room 5. And Skuld told me that she ran into you outside that room. And according to her, you were there to perform system maintenance on the energy transfer subsystem because you said it was randomly disconnecting people from the system. I'm also checking the system access logs and the security logs and they show that you entered Aux Control Room 5 about forty-five minutes ago. We have a positive successful login and password confirmation with your goddess symbol. Also we have a system admin override for the third party program warning system. There was a program executed from Console C7."

"Chrono, do the logs show that program listed as a ?" Urd asked, hoping that the answer was no.

"Hmm, let me see here...yes, it was a program. I'm not familiar with that program. What does that mean, Urd."

"It means that Yggdrasil Main Control was infiltrated by a demon. That demon was under a glamour spell so she could be disguised as me and it was perfect right down to my goddess symbol. The only person that I know that could cast a glamour effective enough to get past a squad of crack Valkyrie guards and Yggdrasil's identification system and could write a program is Hild. She must have used a minion to get into Heaven, disconnect Keiichi and Belldandy from Yggdrasil and then she and Marller will attack the temple.

" Listen Chrono! don't believe what that status board says for one minute. Yggdrasil has been sabotaged by a shadow program that disconnects people from the system and then sends the admins a fake status board showing nothing wrong and then it erases itself and leaves no traces. You need to start reboot procedures on the energy transfer subsystem RIGHT NOW!"

" But that's gonna take..."

"Yeah, I know, at least a whole day. Get started immediately. If you can fast track it in any way, the better. There's gonna be a demonic attack on Earth very shortly and there may not be enough time to scramble a full squad of Valkyries. Summon as many as you can and tell them to go to Earth ready to engage in immediate battle and then start the reboot. We'll try and hold Hild and Marller off for as long as we can."

"Will do Urd, and..."

"Yes, Chrono?"

"Good luck."

" Thanks, we'll need it." Urd rang off the line and told Keiichi what had happened.

"WHAT?, You mean that Hild sent a demon into Heaven to cut me and Belldandy off the system?"

"Yes and Marller and her could attack at any minute. I'll get Belldandy ready to go, while you prepare for battle."

"But Bell..."

"Don't worry about her. She's merely in shock from being disconnected from Yggdrasil without warning. She is connected at a much deeper level than you, that's why the disconnection affected her differently. I'll have her ready to go, but she won't last long in a fight without energy and those moon rock bracelets are strictly temporary. All we can do is hold on for as long as possible until a squad of Valkyries arrives from Heaven and you and Bell are restored to Yggdrasil."

Urd saw the fear and confusion in Keiichi's eyes. He was extremely nervous and more than a little afraid. She sought to build up his strength. "Keiichi, you know how much I love to mess with you and cause you grief. I do it because I'm your friend, and because I like you. You've put up with all of our crazy goddess ways and Belldandy, Skuld and I have turned your life inside out.

"But this is the time when you need to hear some encouragement. I know how you're feeling right now. You wonder whether you can stand against Marller and Hild. You're wondering whether you'll be able to protect Belldandy at a time like this. We have trained you the best we can under the circumstances. This fight is going to be hard. Probably the hardest in your life. But I'll be here alongside you, and so will Bell. She'll be counting on you. Hold nothing back. Use your most powerful spells. Draw on the love you have for Belldandy. Draw on your inner strength, and you'll persevere. You have a goddess, no, three goddesses who need you and who've got your back. You're up to this. I've seen you in action. You're a natural with Earth spells and those are the hardest spells a God or Goddess can master. And this may be a good time for those out-of-control Wind spells of yours also. Use whatever you've got in your arsenal."

Urd finished her speech, gave Keiichi a good luck kiss and went to her lab to prepare medication that would raise Belldandy out of her shock.

Chapter 9

Keiichi, Belldandy and Urd stayed up all night anticipating the upcoming battle and going over last-minute strategy. Urd cautioned Kei and Bell to save their energy and to do as little as possible to avoid wasting energy that could be better used to fight.

Which was too bad for both of them as Belldandy was in the mood for a romantic encounter with her man, but Urd stomped that notion flat. "No fooling around until after you two get reconnected to Yggdrasil."

The first wave of the attack came early the next morning. A large fireball roared down from the sky and landed directly in front of the Temple near the bell leaving a flaming hole in the earth. Banpei activated and perceiving the threat ran as fast as he could to defend the temple. Unfortunately, the robot, as brave as he was, could not stand against the joint attack by Hild and Marller and was wiped out seconds after firing his first salvo.

Urd said to Keiichi and Belldandy. "Okay you two, this is it. I'll take Marller, you two take Hild. Let her have it with both barrels, but don't let her try and drain you of your energy. Watch each others backs. Fight for each other, defend each other, and let your love for each other give you strength." The three could hear Marller crowing in her abrasive screech. " Ur-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-d!, Kei-i-i-iichi! Bellda-a-a-a-andy! Come out, come out wherever you are? Won't you come out and play with us?" We want to play with yo-o-o-o-o-ou!"

They hurried out of the temple and Urd took off after Marller. Belldandy was dressed in her white battlesuit, snug fitting and designed for combat. She had a steely, determined look on her face and fire burned behind those ocean blue eyes. Keiichi was clearly nervous, but the sight of Belldandy in full battle mode, gave him strength. He resolved to fight for his goddess and his home. "Belldandy, are you all right", he asked.

"Yes, Keiichi, I'm fine." Belldandy said in a tight controlled voice that left no doubt as to her state of mind. "I was in shock when I was first disconnected, but Urd helped me to recover." Keiichi gave her two of the moon rock bracelets and kept two for himself. "The last bracelet will go to which ever of us needs it most." Belldandy nodded her head, she held out her hand and Keiichi grabbed it. She said reassuringly

"Keiichi, as long as I know you're beside me, I can fight with all I have. I love you."

"Belldandy, I won't let you be harmed. I'd rather face all the demons in hell first."

Hild appeared in front of both of them in her full glory as Daimaikaicho, and said "After I'm done with you, Keiichi boy, facing all the demons in hell will be a walk in the park." She had a smile on her face that had nothing to do with being happy. She was determined to clear these goddesses off the face of the earth if it was the last thing she would do, and if it took taking out Keiichi was well, then so be it. Hild unleashed a bolt of fire that Belldandy easily blocked. Keiichi took advantage of the defensive maneuver to send a massive boulder at Hild, which flew past her with no effect at all.

"Come now, Keiichi," Hild mocked. " Is that the best an second class God can do?, Maybe you ought to switch to our side, we have fledgling demons that can teach you a thing or two, especially in the Lo-o-o-o-o-ve department! You really think that someone like** you** can truly satisfy one such as Belldandy? Come with me, Keiichi. I'll show you how to really love a woman!"

Keiichi became enraged and in his fiery anger, prepared to unleash an even more powerful attack, but Belldandy restrained him. "Keiichi! Don't give in! She wants you to waste your power on worthless attacks!" Hild knew that time and energy was on her side. She knew that Kei and Bell only had a few minutes of energy in them before they'd start to weaken and was perfectly willing to deploy a strategy that relied on many small easy to defend attacks instead of one or two major strikes. She did this because she believed that this approach would wear the god and goddess down completely, and also because like most big cats, Hild liked to play with her prey before administering the killing stroke.

Keiichi and Belldandy however, just wanted to employ a primarily defensive posture to save energy until Hild made a mistake that they could capitalize on. Mostly, they just tried to hold on as long as they could until Yggdrasil was rebooted and they were reconnected. However long that took. Hild continued throwing relatively low level attacks content to wear Kei and Bell down. And all the while, she taunted the two, trying to goad them into wasting precious energy. She especially targeted Keiichi as he was more likely to lose his cool and lash out. "C'mon, Keiichi!" She said. "Let's see what you've really got!, Defend your goddess!...If you can!", spitting the word "goddess" out like it was a rotten piece of meat.

Hild sent a blistering electrical attack towards Belldandy that seemed sure to hit, but alertly Keiichi raised a rock wall to ground the electrical effects of the spell. But while the spell was well within his ability to cast, it took a large toll on his energy. He felt it as the first signs of fatigue started to affect him. He could feel the very edges of his consciousness starting to blur. He was still very cognizant of his situation, and he still had plenty of power remaining but he clearly knew he was not at one hundred percent. He blunted Hild's attempts to wear him down, but they were taking a toll.

Meanwhile, Belldandy was in better shape energy-wise, but her concern for Keiichi's welfare was starting to wear on her. "_How much energy does he have left? Can he hold on much longer. Eventually he'll run out and I have to take care of him, but I can't let Hild win this battle." _She thought to herself. Even though it was against her nature, if not her abilities, Bell decided to go on the offensive. She focused her energy and sent a tornado grade Wind attack at Hild which connected, slamming Hild into a nearby wall. The strike shook Hild greatly, but on the whole, it just made her madder than caused any serious damage. Bell then followed up with a blast of repulsor energy to pin Hild against the wall. The spell was very powerful and tested Bell's abilities, but Hild decided to turn Bell's attack against her. She just stayed put and let Belldandy continue to pour energy into maintaining the spell. _"Go ahead Belldandy."_ She thought to herself. _"Just keep wasting your power. You're really not as smart as I thought you'd be. It's almost a pity to be attacking you. Almost."_

But Keiichi saw what Hild was doing and yelled out. "Belldandy, watch out! Hild is making you waste power. Stop the spell." But it was too late, Bell had used up most of her power and was staggering, she could fail at anytime. Hild saw the opening she wanted, but instead chose to go after Keiichi instead. "Okay, Keiichi boy. Try and stop **this**!"

She unleashed a mighty bolt of Hell's Lightning which roared towards Keiichi with inhuman speed, but the spell never reached its target. Belldandy flew from her position to shield Keiichi with her body. She took the full brunt of the hit right in the chest. The enormous electrical fire charge savagely snapped Belldandy's head back as a look of pure agony ripped across her face. Her body stiffened as she absorbed the hellish demon attack.

She let fly a tortured scream that tore through the temple grounds. Belldandy took the entire charge of energy from Hild's spell as it knocked her a hundred feet through the air to crash lifelessly on the ground.

Keiichi yelled "BEL-L-L-L-L-L-L-L-L!" as he ran to where she landed. To say she was not in good shape would have been an understatement. Her battlesuit was ripped across her chest where she took the strike, the rest of the suit was black with soot. Her face was locked in a rictus of agony and pain. Her eyes, usually so bright and full of life looked dead and opaque.

Keiichi put his head down to Bell's chest to try and hear a heartbeat. At first, he couldn't hear one, but after a few seconds, he heard a faint weak heartbeat that while ragged was still beating in time with his own broken heart. He could hear her breathing, but it was thin and reedy, a faint whistle coming from her chest. Her arms and legs were laying at unnatural angles. A smell of ozone and burnt flesh rose from her body. Belldandy was alive, but just barely.

Time slowed down...

Keiichi looked down at Belldandy. His tears fell copiously from his eyes. He looked into the goddess' lifeless eyes. He longed on her face. This goddess put his life before hers, just as she had done so many times before. This burned and battered body was his friend, his goddess and most recently, his lover. She was alive, but would she still be the same after this ordeal. Would she still be able to stay with him on Earth or would she have to go back to Heaven? If she did go back, would she stay there until she had recovered, or would Kami-sama rule that she would be permanently assigned to Heaven. These and so many other questions flooded Keiichi's mind, but he didn't have time for pondering. He still had a battle to win and vengeance filled his heart. He put his questions and his fears away. He looked into Belldandy's eyes and remembered what Urd told him. _"Draw on your inner strength, Draw on Belldandy's love, use your most powerful spells."_ And most of all. _"HOLD. !" _Tears and crying would come later, but now it was time for revenge.

He closed his eyes and concentrated on visualizing all the love he had for Belldandy and all the love she had for him. Their life together. The joys, sorrows, pain, happiness and wonder. The times before Urd and Skuld's arrival, when it was just the two of them together, still learning about each other. The Lord of Terror, Urd's demonic and divine halves splitting, the Angel Eater, The Song of the Goddesses, and the night when they first made love.

He took all that love and those emotions and converted them to energy. He concentrated that energy down into a single ball of unbelievably dense power. Akin to a star going supernova.

He added to that the hatred that he felt for Hild and Marller and the horrific and cowardly act they committed to attack he and the goddesses while they were down. The all consuming fire of hatred. The most devastating energy of all. He visualized taking all those emotions and squeezing them down together into a single mass of raw and powerful energy.

He let himself feel every bit of that energy as he brought it together and molded it and shaped it into the one shot that he had of defeating Hild. He didn't just want to defeat Hild, he wanted to destroy her. He wanted to make her into what she made Belldandy. He wanted to visit Belldandy's agony on Hild, to be Belldandy's instrument of vengeance. Belldandy would never want to take vengeance on anyone who wronged her. But Keiichi was a different animal indeed. If Bell wouldn't do it, he would do it for her.

There was a chance that Kami-sama would punish him for this, but right now at the moment, heavenly sanction was the last thing on Keiichi's mind. He just continued to gather up all his emotions and give power to them. Squeezing that power down, denser and denser, building up the pressure. Distilling the massive energies into a vessel of hyper-pressurized power. He gave over all he had. There was nothing left to give. He knew what he had to do and damn the consequences.

He stood up and faced his tormentor. Hild looked at him smugly and said, "Well, done crying over your goddess, now?" You two never had a chance..."

Keiichi looked into Hild's eyes with a stony resolve, and said nothing, but calmly started invoking the spell. He raised his arms wide and intoned in a voice not entirely his own:

"**I am the God Keiichi Morisato. Master of Earth, Rock and Ground. Lover of Belldandy, and the Sword of her Righteous Vengeance."**

"**I call upon all of the Earth spirits at my command. Give me aid and assistance to execute judgment upon my tormentor."**

"**Give to me power to crush her under my feet. To do to her what she has done to me and mine. Wind spirits, and Fire spirits, also come to my assistance, and give to me out of the wellspring of your limitless power."**

"**I bring all these powers under my authority, In my name I execute vengeance for the Goddess Belldandy and the consequences of my actions are mine and mine alone to bear!**

"**Lava Wind Barrage!"**

He unleashed all the power he had stored. The sudden release of power fueled by revenge felt good to Keiichi. It took him out of the physical world and placed him in his own time and space where he felt he could move the universe at the merest bidding.

A hole opened up into the ground going straight to the Earth's core, the ground shook and rumbled with earthquake level force. From that hole Keiichi summoned a flood of fiery lava and mixed it with gale force winds fanning a column of pure flame. A flame hotter than a thousand suns. A sound like the rumble of a thousand thunderstorms and volcanos. He shot it at Hild who, frozen in time, stared at Keiichi with utter terror in her eyes.

She thought to herself _"Oh, no he didn't."_ That was the last thought she had as the flames hit and consumed her. The winds of fire tore at Hild's skin burning it away. She screamed in white-hot pain as the spell worked its way through her inhuman body. She never thought that she would see the day that a God would invoke that type of spell.

The fire burned through her scorching and tearing. Consuming and taking for its own. As if it was a living, breathing, thinking creature. Driven by its desire to burn, consume and feed with its cauldron-like heat. Fueled by the hatred and desire for retribution of the spellcaster.

"_Too powerful! Got. to. Get. Away!"_ She thought as she called up her last bit of energy to disappear from the temple grounds as Keiichi continued to drive the spell with his irrational hate and conflict. The column of flame and lava continued to burn with white-hot intensity long after Hild had escaped. He didn't seem to care. He not only wanted to rid himself of Hild, but to use the flame to burn away all evidence that she had ever been there. He kept pouring more and more into the spell, he heard, felt, and saw nothing, but only vengeance. Consuming, blinding, destroying vengeance.


	4. Part 4

Chapter 9

"Keiichi!"

A feeling of utter deflation, collapse. No power.

"Keiichi!"

No sound could penetrate the cloud of sensory deprivation.

"KEIICHI!"

" I guess we'll have to do it the hard way."

An intense pain ripping through his mind jolting him back to reality.

"AAAAAAAAGH!" He snapped up arms in fighting mode ready to cock and lock a spell on whomever disturbed his reverie.

"Keiichi! Snap out of it. It's me!"

"Urrrgh, me who?"

"Urd, dammit. Wake up."

Eyes open, familiar surroundings and smells. Rice paper, bamboo. Faint notes of incense and cherry blossoms. The familiar voice of Yggdrasil calling out to him. He was reconnected. He was whole again.

He looked around him and saw he wasn't alone. In his room with him were Urd, and three very intimidating Valkyries all in shining white battlesuits and carrying fearsome weapons. They were led by the baddest of the Fighting Wings herself, Lind. The look on her face betrayed none of her true feelings, but Keiichi sensed that behind that stone exterior, there was a hint of respect.

"Ooooh. Urd, can you keep it down, I have a splitting headache." Keiichi moaned.

Urd said to her companions. "Get this, the man casts one of the most lethal spells in history and all he has is a headache. Geez, I should be so lucky. I cast something like that, I'm down for a week AND my license is suspended."

It took a few minutes for Keiichi to get his mind sorted out to the point he could sit up for an extended period of time, during which Urd and the Valkyries filled him in on the aftermath of battle.

"So basically," Urd said, after I dispatched Marller, I came back to see how you and Belldandy were faring. I return to you sprawled out on the ground next to Belldandy, the temple and almost everything within a half mile radius burnt to a crisp, and no sign of Hild anywhere. The energy transfer system was rebooted about fifteen minutes ago."

Lind continued in her deep authoritarian voice. "My squad and I get here and found the place a total mess. From what we were able to gather, you and Hild had quite a battle. That Lava Wind Barrage spell is supposed to be a spell that only First Class Gods and Goddesses can cast. It's one of the most devastating spells and is so powerful that it's on the Restricted List."

"Restricted List?" Keiichi asked.

"Yes, Restricted List. Spells on that list are so dangerous and powerful that to cast them results in an instant one year license suspension, no questions asked, with no appeal. But lucky for you, Kami-sama likes you, and was willing to overlook it this time because of the nature of the battle. He figured that was the only way you could have gotten rid of Hild given your situation, so he rescinded the suspension. Although he did say that this was a one-time pardon, so if I were you, I wouldn't do it again." Lind finished, "By the way, who taught that spell to you?, Only certain highly trained Gods and Goddesses can cast that spell, much less learn it."

Keiichi said. "I don't know how I learned it, It just came to me. I was so filled with rage after what Hild had done to Belldandy that I wanted to bring her down and make her pay for her deeds. The spell just came into my mind and I did it."

Urd said, "Well, because of this situation, there's a chance that you may be approached about taking the First Class Exam. If you're going to be throwing spells like Lava Wind Barrage around, you'd better have some clue as to what you're doing."

Suddenly, Keiichi remembered. "How's Belldandy? Is she okay, can I see her?"

Urd responded. "In that order, yes and no. She is alive, but in bad shape. She sustained major internal damage from taking that Hell's Lightning shot. That's one of Hild's strongest attacks and Belldandy took it at close range full in the chest. She will be all right, but she's going to be off her feet for a long time. I've stabilized her the best I can, but we can't take her to Heaven for treatment because of the extent of her injuries and passage through the gate for a heavily injured goddess is a very dicey situation. So we'll have to let her heal down here until she's strong enough for transport to Heaven.

"Once she's up there, she'll be under the best care available and it will only be a matter of days until you get your goddess back. Mentally, Bell's all right. I didn't sense any abnormal issues resulting from the hit, But I'd suggest that you don't see or talk to her for a few days until she gets some of her strength back. Once she sees you, she's gonna want to take care of you and try and feed you and do those things that she loves to do, and she is in no condition to do any of that. And in case you're wondering, you-know-what is out completely. Don't even think about it.

Keiichi had to ask. "So did I kill Hild?"

Urd said "Kill Hild? No, Keiichi. Lava Wind Barrage is an extremely powerful spell, but it would take an attack 50 times that strong to **kill **Hild. But you did hurt her badly and I guarantee you, she'll think twice before attacking us again. Neither her nor Marller are going to attempt anything against us for a long time. Hild is evil, and a formidable foe but she does respect power. If she does attack again, she won't take you so lightly.

"You did a good job Keiichi." Urd said. "You saved Belldandy's life and defeated your greatest enemy. No doubt it's because of all my great training, although Belldandy had a hand in it also." Lind agreed "A truly marvelous example of spellcraft. I'm impressed." she said with a faint but definite smile. That was about as close to giddy as Lind would ever get. "Well, it seems that we weren't needed after all. But I still owe you a social call, Keiichi. Farewell and take care of Belldandy." Lind summoned the gate and her and her companions stepped through and were gone.

Urd gave Keiichi a thumbs up and walked back into the temple, leaving Keiichi to his thoughts. _"Why didn't Belldandy merely use magic to block Hell's Lightning? Why did __she throw herself in front of me putting her life in such danger? It didn't make sense." _

He rose to his feet, and almost fell back down again. He ached all over, and even though he was reconnected back to Yggdrasil, he still felt drained of energy. He lurched back into the temple, but as he stopped by the Tea Room, he couldn't resist at least looking in on Belldandy. He silently opened the paper thin door a crack and peeked in on her.

What he saw chilled him. The lights were out and it was dead quiet. Belldandy was laying on her futon face-up. Perfectly still. Her beautiful face was ashen and pale. Her eyes were closed, but her mouth was open only slightly, her full lips dry and thin. She didn't make a sound and Keiichi had to look very hard to make sure she was breathing. Belldandy looked more dead than alive. The sight of his goddess in such pain tore at his heart. He so wanted to go in and touch her, hold her, be there for her in her time of need just as she had always been there for him.

The tears ran hot down his cheek. He wanted to go in, but Urd's request for quiet made too much sense to disobey. He wanted to send healing energy to her as she had done to him so many times before, but he had to be in physical contact with Belldandy to do that. Instead he just composed a message of support in his mind and sent it to her telepathically. No sign as to whether she'd received it, she didn't move a muscle. But Keiichi did have a feeling of warmth come over him, as if she was letting him know that everything would be all right. They were still connected, and that raised his spirits.

Urd came up from behind, silently shook her head, and gently guided Keiichi away. He went back to his room and lay down on the futon, and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chapter 10

One week after the attacks.

It took a week for Belldandy to heal to the point that she could open her eyes and sit up without assistance. She looked a thousand percent better although she still had a long road to recovery. The color had mostly returned to her skin, her eyes were much clearer and brighter. She could speak in complete and logical sentences, but she didn't talk at length. Urd forbade her to stand up, and despite Belldandy's constant requests to see Keiichi, Urd refused to cave in.

"No. Belldandy, it's not a good idea to see Keiichi right now. Your system took one hell of a shock and you need to save your strength to heal. Don't worry about him right now. He's worried sick about you, but he's all right. Megumi has been coming over to do the cooking and, as much as I hate it, I'm taking care of the chores." Urd didn't bother to hide her extreme disdain for manual labor.

"B-but, Urd, Keiichi needs me, and I need him." Belldandy said weakly.

"I know all that, but if I let him see you as you are right now, he'll be dejected and miserable, and that will make you dejected and miserable, and right now that's the last thing we need in this temple is two dejected and miserable deities on top of the two moody and half-crazed ones that already live here."

" But Urd..."

"Belldandy, please..."

"I'm sorry, Urd."

"Sorry for what, Belldandy?"

" For being such a burden to everyone."

"Bell, you're not a burden to anyone. You got severely injured in a battle where the odds were against you, did you expect us to just leave you there to die? Not on my watch, sister dear. In a few days, when you'll be strong enough, we'll go up to Heaven and get you fixed up right. And then you'll be back to being the same old lovable Belldandy."

Bell managed a tiny smile. "Thanks for all you're doing Urd. I really appreciate it."

Urd said happily, "That's what sisters are for. If it will make you feel better, you should be proud of Keiichi. He did very well against Hild."

Belldandy said "I don't remember anything after I got hit, what did he do to win?"

"You'd be really impressed, he used a Lava Wind Barrage spell to send Hild back to Niflheim."

Belldandy jerked back up, eyes wide open. "He used a WHAT?" she shrieked in alarm.

"You heard me. He used a Lava Wind Barrage spell,"

"Where did he learn that?" She exclaimed incredulously, "I didn't teach it to him. You can't teach it to him. Where would he learn such a powerful First Class spell much less one on the Restricted List. Kami-sama must be very mad."

Urd placed her hand on Belldandy's shoulder, and gently laid her back down.

"No worries about Kami-sama. He forgave the violation due to the circumstances of the battle."

Belldandy breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Urd continued, "Keiichi said that the spell just came to him, he wanted revenge against Hild and he was able to successfully cast the spell."

Belldandy said "I wish he would not have used revenge as a motive. I don't like it."

Urd replied. "In a battle against one like Hild, all's fair. He had no choice. He saw you take that hit and that image of you laying there half-dead put him over the edge. I don't blame him for what he did. Matter of fact, I thought it was a very impressive and appropriate thing to do."

"I guess you're right." Belldandy said uncertainly. "I just don't like taking revenge, even against Hild."

"Keiichi did what he had to do to protect you. Just like what you did to protect him."

" So when can I see him?"

"Bell..."

"Yes, Urd?"

" Give it a day or two, I'll make sure you see him before you return to Heaven for further treatment." That brought a smile to the goddess's face as she closed her eyes and fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

After Keiichi woke from his nap, he felt much better, the soreness that wracked his body was mostly gone and even though he was a God and didn't need to take human nourishment, he decided to head to the kitchen and fix himself something to eat. "I wonder if there's anything I can make a sandwich out of?" He wondered aloud. As per Urd's request he didn't stop by the Tea Room to look in on Belldandy although he desperately wanted to. He entered the kitchen and was mildly surprised to see his younger sister Megumi at the stove trying to cook something and not having much success doing it.

"Hi Kei." Megumi said in her usual cheery, perky tone.

"Ah, Megumi. What brings you here?" Keiichi asked, figuring that she was here to mooch one of Bell's excellent meals.

"Urd called me and said that Belldandy wasn't feeling too good and she asked me to come over and take care of the cooking for the next couple days. What happened?"

Keiichi had to think quickly because this was the first time that he had seen his sister since he and the goddesses returned from Heaven, and she didn't know he had been transformed into a God. She also didn't know that the three women living in the temple with him were also goddesses. Keiichi told her and everyone else at Nekomi Tech that Belldandy was a foreign exchange student and that Urd and Skuld were her sisters. Which was half right. Consequently, he could not tell Meg that Belldandy was the victim of a savage demon attack, much less that he had fought off the demon with a high level Lava Wind spell. But her had to come up with an excuse that was at least somewhat credible.

"Well Megumi, Belldandy got hold of some food that didn't quite agree with her. She came down with a stomach bug that hit her pretty hard. She's been in bed for a few days taking it easy." Keiichi said as he fidgeted and prayed that she'd buy his excuse.

Megumi turned to look at her older brother, she looked at him as if she had seen something unusual about his appearance, but then shook it off as an illusion playing tricks on her eyes.

"Wait a minute, Keiichi.". Meg said warily. "We're talking about the woman who cooks better than a five-star chef eating something that didn't agree with her? That can't be right."

"That's the truth. Meg. The doctors said she caught a bug. _C'mon Meg, I know it's a lame story, but humor me, pleeeease?"_

"Okay Kei, I...guess that can happen. Don't see how, but..."

"Trust me, Megumi, would I lie to you?"

"No. You never were very good at lying. You turn as red as a stoplight."

Keiichi turned the conversation away from Belldandy. "What are you cooking for lunch?"

Megumi looked down at the mess on the table where she was working and said "I'm trying to make a stir-fry, but it's not quite coming out the way I wanted."

Keiichi took a look, shook his head, and said "Yeah, I can see that. I think takeout is a better option here."

Meg agreed. "Yeah, this isn't working. It's pretty sad that neither of us ever learned to cook very well. I always get takeout or throw something in the microwave, and you have Belldandy. Which is the reason I'm always coming over to mooch a home-cooked meal."

Keiichi said. "Well, at least until Bell gets back on her feet, we have to rely on Motofuji's Express Ramen for a while."

Megumi looked at her brother again very closely "Keiichi, there's something different about the way you look. Something's not quite the same about you. I can't put my finger on it, and maybe I'm seeing things, but you don't look...normal."

Keiichi got a chill down his spine. He thought that the symbol on his forehead was invisible to humans. _"But could Megumi see it? How? What does she know?"_

"What do you mean, Megumi? I don't look any different than usual. Maybe you're finally seeing how good looking a man I am." Keiichi chuckled as he primped and flexed his muscles..

Megumi threw a pot holder at Keiichi. "Yeah, right! You're just as dorky looking as ever! It's just that somehow your face seems brighter, like it's got some kind of energy behind it. I can't explain it. I don't remember seeing it the last time I was over.

"About that. Remind me not to come over the next time the Auto Club is having one of their booze-ups. I haven't drunk that much in ages and If I even smell sake anymore, I'm gonna ralph!" Megumi put her finger in her mouth and faked throwing up.

Keiichi let out a laugh and said "That was a wild night. We were totally unprepared for it. You, Chihiro and Urd were drunk as rats and you kept telling those two all those embarrassing stories about me when I was a kid. Sheesh, I'll never hear the end of it from them."

"I was wondering where you and Belldandy got off to that night. You two left and we didn't see you again until the next morning. Were you putting the moves on your girlfriend?, Hmmmm?" Megumi suggested, giving Keiichi a playful elbow.

"_If she only knew!"_ thought Keiichi. "No, we went back to my room and spent some time together looking at the full moon...And no, nothing happened!" He didn't dare tell Meg that he and Bell had since become intimate and then some over the past couple weeks, It would be all over school the next day. And while Kei was no longer attending Nekomi Tech, most of his friends were still there and they'd give him hell the next time he showed up on campus.

"And you had the perfect chance to step up and be a man and you wimped out again! I'm ashamed to call you my brother, Keiichi" said Megumi. "Oh well, Bell insists on staying with you, so I guess eventually you'll man up. I'm going over to Motofuji's to pick up some take out for everybody, see you later." Megumi picked up her coat and ran out of the temple. Keiichi sat at the table alone shaking his head as her heard his sister's bike crank over and roar down the street.

"_If she only knew."_

Chapter 11

Two days later.

It was another two days before Urd had decided that Belldandy was strong enough for Keiichi to see her. She had improved significantly. Her skin continued to return to its original glow. She was much more alert, and her strength, while still rather low for a goddess of her stature was coming back more and more every day. When Urd gave him the go-ahead, Keiichi could hardly contain himself. He literally flew into the Tea Room and gently, but firmly embraced his goddess. His heart leaped with joy as she returned his embrace and kissed him deeply. Their hearts were beating as one once again. A big smile came across Belldandy's face as she held her man.

"I've missed you so much, Keiichi!" Belldandy exclaimed joyously. "All these days in this room alone, not being able to hold you and love you. I needed to feel your arms around me again." While Belldandy was still pretty weak, she was holding on to Keiichi almost to the point that he couldn't breathe, but he stayed put and let Belldandy hold him as long as she wanted.

"As much as you've missed me, Bell, I've missed you even more." Keiichi said gratefully as he held her face in his hands. "I've been going crazy the last week. I wanted to sneak in here while Urd wasn't looking, but I didn't want to risk her wrath. You look great!"

"Thanks, Keiichi." Belldandy said as she released the embrace. "In a few more days, I'll be strong enough for transport to Heaven so I can finish my treatment. There's only so much that Urd can do for me down here. She can help heal my physical body, but I have to go back to Heaven to have my powers re-established. I could not use my powers to help myself heal."

"So how long will you have to stay in Heaven?" Kei asked. He didn't want to be separated from Belldandy any longer than was absolutely necessary.

" It will only be three days Earth time to get my powers back on-line. But don't forget, Keiichi. You're a God now, you can come and go to Heaven as often as you want. I want you to be with me as I am transported."

"Not even Hild could stop me from being by your side." Keiichi said with a determined tone.

"Speaking of which, Keiichi, why did you use a Lava Wind Barrage spell with revenge as your motive. I don't like using revenge."

"When I saw your crumpled and lifeless body on the ground after taking that hit, all I wanted was to make Hild pay for what she had done to you. Belldandy, I will do whatever it takes to protect you, and if that also means revenge, then I'm sorry."

" But how did you learn that spell, we didn't teach it to you."

Keiichi shook his head and said, "I don't know. It just came to me. I was so angry and hurt after seeing you knocked out that I just took all my hatred and wrath for Hild, combined it with the love I have for you, distilled it into pure energy, and used it to drive the spell. It was the first thing that came into my mind. I've never seen that spell before, and I doubt I could do it again unprovoked."

Belldandy looked out of one of the Tea Room windows and said "Well, I hope you don't ever have to use that spell again. It's very dangerous and even though Kami-sama let it go this time, you could be in very serious trouble if you ever have to use it again."

Keiichi said, "I have a question for you. Why did you jump out in front of me and take that hit? Didn't you have enough power to block it with magic?"

"No, Keiichi." Belldandy replied, head down as if ashamed. "I ran out of power when I used that repulsor spell. I should have known better. But when I saw what kind of spell that Hild was going to use, I couldn't let you try and block it with your magic, and if that spell would have hit you..." Bell shuddered uncontrollably, "Well, you see what it did to me, it would have destroyed you. So I had to jump in front of the spell because I had no choice. Like you, I would sacrifice my life to protect you." A tear formed on Belldandy's face. Keiichi reached over and wiped it from her eyes and he stroked Bell's cheek with that same hand.

The two sat there hand in hand content to be silent and enjoy each others company. Keiichi thought that he could actually see Belldandy's condition improve dramatically just by being in physical contact with her. She was clearly in a much happier frame of mind. He wasn't able to read Bell's aura to the same extent that she was able to read his, but he guessed that she was immensely overjoyed about being reunited with Keiichi, but also a little angry at herself for being taken in by such a simple tactic. He could sense that she felt she did the right thing by sacrificing herself to save him, but she also felt that she had put Keiichi under needless stress.

"Belldandy, don't beat yourself up about what you did during the battle. You did what you thought was best, and I don't fault you, and you're not putting any extra stress on me."

Bell looked at him in complete surprise. "You could read my mind?"

"No, I've been around you long enough to know how you feel at any given time. And your feelings always mirror mine. When I'm happy, you're happy. When I'm sad, you're sad."

"But Keiichi, I just want to do whatever it takes to make you happy. That's why I'm here." Belldandy said.

"No Belldandy, that's why you **came** here. That's not why you're here now."

"I don't understand."

"You came to grant me a wish and fulfill a contract, right?"

"Right."

"But you're here now because you love me and want to stay with me forever, right?"

"Right."

"There's no contract between us now, because we're God and Goddess, so other than our love for each other, there's no contractual reason for you to be here."

"That's true, Keiichi."

"So, you can stop thinking that somehow you always have to win my approval, Belldandy. We will always be together and I will never turn you away. You're stuck with me."

Belldandy giggled, "Or is it the other way around, that you're stuck with me?"

Keiichi looked deeply into his goddess's face and said. "Believe me, I can think of much worse fates than being stuck with you. I could be stuck with Urd."

"I HEARD THAT! You wish you were stuck with me. I would have made a real man out of you a long time ago!" Urd's mocking voice carried from her lab, causing both Keiichi and Belldandy to erupt in peals of much needed laughter. "Visiting hours are over, Keiichi. It's time to let Belldandy get some rest."

Keiichi got to his feet, kissed Belldandy, and waved goodbye as he left the room.


	5. Part 5

Chapter 12

A few more days passed when Urd finally declared Belldandy fit for transport to Heaven to finish her recovery. She was able to stand on her feet, but was still unable to do much more than that. Keiichi and Urd helped to move her out into the courtyard to access the gate that would return them to Heaven. They stood on each side of Bell and kept her steady as she took her first steps since the attack. They were tentative and a touch shaky, but she managed. Once again Belldandy apologized profusely for being such a burden on Keiichi and Urd, but they would have none of it and told her to keep quiet.

Keiichi summoned the gate, which despite his divinity still caused Belldandy and Urd no end of awe. They were clearly still getting adjusted to Keiichi being a God despite the activities of the last two weeks.

The gate appeared as usual in the eastern sky as an opening in the clouds made of energy waves collapsing in on themselves and taking on the familiar Celtic knot appearance. After taking a look in all directions to make sure that no one was watching them, the three entered the gate and were whisked away.

Once they got to the other end of the portal, they arrived at the same border crossing that Keiichi encountered the first time he went to Heaven. The same two guards were there also. After they requested the party show their credentials, the taller, more senior guard spoke. "State your purpose." She said in an official tone. Urd replied "Belldandy is to be undergoing treatment for injuries suffered in a demonic attack. She's here to have her powers restored."

"What happened to her?"

"Lind didn't tell you?" Urd questioned.

The guard replied, "No, us border guards are the last to know anything around here."

Urd gave them the quick version of the battle.

The junior guard replied incredulously. "Wow! That must have been a nasty spell to lay a goddess like Belldandy out."

Urd said "Well, if you think that Hell's Lightning was strong, you should have seen what our boy Keiichi threw at Hild."

"What was that?"

" A Lava Wind Barrage spell"

Both guards looked at each other in utter disbelief "You're kidding!"

"Would I lie to you? Never mind, disregard that!"

The senior guard recovered, "Speaking of Keiichi Morisato, this arrived for him, and we are instructed to make sure he gets it. She handed Keiichi a crystal cube slightly larger than a six-sided game die.

Keiichi looked at it and said "What is it?"

The junior guard responded, "It's a confidential message for you. We have no idea what it says. It will only open for you.

"And how do I open it?"

"Just hold the cube out in front of you and concentrate. It'll open upon verifying your positive identification."

Keiichi followed the guard's instructions and after a few moments of light concentration, the cube unfolded itself to become a translucent two dimensional square of light that looked like a sheet of white paper floating above his hand. There was red writing on the light sheet. Keiichi read it out to the goddesses:

**Department of Examinations**

**Testing Notice# 128557-3667**

**This notice is to inform Keiichi Morisato, God Second Class, Limited License**

**that upon the recommendation of the Heavenly Council, and by the Authority of the Department of Examinations, he has been granted permission to sit for the God First Class Exam. Keiichi Morisato may acknowledge receipt of this notice and declare his intentions by notifying any God or Goddess First Class within 72 hours Earth time of the receipt of this notice. Keiichi Morisato has the option of choosing any God or Goddess First Class to act as proctor for this exam, or one will be assigned to him upon request. **

Keiichi, Urd and Belldandy's mouths dropped open simultaneously. "Wait a minute! Hold the Phone!" Keiichi yelped. "I am not ready to take the First Class exam. I'm just now getting a handle on these powers. Who set this up, and how did they know I was going to be here? This isn't one of your pranks, is it, Urd?" Keiichi glared at the platinum blonde haired goddess.

"Don't look at me, Keiichi!" Urd shot back. "I'm a Second Class Goddess, I'm not authorized to make petition for you to take the First Class Exam. Only a First Class Goddess can do that." They both looked at the only other First Class Goddess on the scene.

Belldandy shrugged her shoulders and said "Keiichi, I swear to you that I had nothing to do with this. I would never put you up for the First Class Exam unless I consulted with you first, and only after I was satisfied that you were advanced enough to handle the ordeal. This had to come from the Heavenly Council. They are the only ones who could have authorized this action. You have to believe me Keiichi. I did not do this."

"Of course you wouldn't, Belldandy. I'm sorry for even thinking that you would." Keiichi said. " This is just such a big surprise. Do you think this might have to do with my casting that Lava Wind Barrage spell? Do you think Kami-sama might have something to do with this?"

Bell thought it over and said "He has the authority to order the Council to do something like this, although he rarely exercises it. If he's going to do this, he must have a very good reason. Kami-sama takes the testing of Gods and Goddesses very seriously. I know he forgave you for casting that spell, but that was because, in his mind, it was the only other option left. If he is the one behind this notice, it must be because he feels that you are qualified to take this exam."

Keiichi said "Belldandy, what do **you** think? Do you believe that I'm ready to do this?"

Belldandy looked into Keiichi's eyes and said with all conviction. "Yes, I have complete faith that you can handle this test and qualify for First Class. This is a truly unprecedented situation. But if Kami-sama issued this notice, he must have overwhelming faith in your abilities, and that's good enough for me." She put a hand on Keiichi's shoulder and gave him her most heart-warming and confidence- inducing smile.

Keiichi put his head in his hands, looked around, mustered his resolve and said. "Well, I'm not going to let either Kami-sama nor Belldandy down." He turned to Belldandy and declared "In compliance with this notice, I am notifying you, Goddess First Class Belldandy, that I acknowledge receipt of the notice and I will sit for the First Class Exam. I also request that you be my proctor. I will sit for the exam after Belldandy has recovered fully from her injuries."

Belldandy's face went blank for a few seconds as if she was mentally searching for something and then replied, "The notice has been properly acknowledged, your intentions have been recorded and I will be most pleased to act as your proctor." A serious look came over her face. "But be forewarned, Keiichi that just because I am your lover and your friend, that does not mean that I will go easy on you. The scenarios that I will create will test you very thoroughly and they will be a significant but surmountable challenge. I must maintain the integrity of the testing process, and insure that only the most qualified applicants become First Class Gods and Goddesses."

"I wouldn't have it any other way." Kei replied. " Now let's get going and get you fixed up."

"Yes, Let's." Bell cheerfully responded. The three friends were teleported to the main street where they made their way to the treatment facility.

Upon arrival in the Treatment Facility, Belldandy was placed on a floating gurney and whisked away. But not before she grabbed Keiichi's hand and squeezed it tightly. She smiled radiantly at him and told him everything would be all right.

Keiichi tried to follow along with the orderlies, but they firmly told him that he was allowed no further than the waiting room. He sat there with Urd. He tried to act as if the situation was no big deal and that the treatment staff knew what they were doing, but inside, his mind was a tempest of emotions.

"Urd?" He asked.

"Yes, Keiichi?" Urd was just as concerned as Keiichi was, but she managed to put a bored face on it.

"So, what will happen to Belldandy up here?"

"They will completely scan her body down to the molecular level, identify those sections which have been damaged, repair them, and then bring her powers back on line.

That's the most basic explanation I can give you. The actual procedure is much more complicated than that."

"So what are the chances of success?"

"I'd say they are very good. Don't forget, I was in charge of her early treatment, and if you think I'm going to let my little sister receive anything less than the best of care, you've got another thing coming."

Urd was about to go on, when the door to the waiting room burst open and Skuld came running into the room, tears streaming down her face. "Where's Belldandy! I want to see Belldandy! I want my big sister! I want her right now!" She yelled to no one in particular. "What happened to Belldandy? I swear, Keiichi, if this is your doing, I will hate you forever and never forgive you!" Fire was in the little goddess's eyes as she swore vengeance on Keiichi even though she had no clue.

Keiichi said "Well, you already hate me, so that's no big deal. As for not forgiving me, maybe you should hear the whole story before passing judgment."

Skuld stopped her rant long enough to hear Keiichi out. He told her the entire story of the attack, from the first fireball through Belldandy's sacrifice of her body to shield Keiichi from the Hell's Lightning, to his casting of the Lava Wind Barrage spell. Skuld seemed a little mollified after the explanation. "I knew that demon didn't look quite right. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I wasn't sure enough to report her." Skuld said, a little mad at herself that she wasn't able to see through Hild's glamour spell. "But how did you cast a Lava Wind Barrage Spell? That's on the Restricted List as well as a First Class spell!"

Keiichi said impatiently, "Not again. First it was Urd, than Belldandy, than the border guards, and now you! For the last time, I don't know, it just came to me. Any more questions?"

"Geez, Keiichi, you don't have to be such a jerk, you know. I just asked a simple question."

"Sorry, Skuld, I've just been put through the wringer the last couple weeks. The attack, Belldandy's injuries, me being asked to sit for the First Class Exam..."

"WHAT? You're sitting for the First Class Exam? You just got your powers!" Skuld all but screamed.

Keiichi said nothing and showed her the message cube. Skuld read it and said with a note of dejection, "Yeah, it's a valid order. It's just so not fair! I've been a goddess longer than you've been alive by at least fifty times, I won't get a sniff at First Class until I get as old and wrinkled as Urd, and you become a God for only two weeks and not only does Kami-sama cut you a break on using a Restricted Spell, but he also allows you to take the First Class exam!" Skuld folded her arms across her chest and turned away pouting.

Urd piped up "Even if you get as old as me, I'll still look ten thousand times better than you ever will, and if you'd ever spend as much time working on your magic as you do on your crazy inventions, you'd be up for First Class in no time. Stop being an inventor and start being a goddess!"

Skuld whirled back round, charged toward Urd, and said angrily, "I am a goddess and an inventor! My powers are coming along just fine, thank you very much! And my inventions are the height of efficiency and elegance!" Skuld concluded with that dreamy look on her face that she always showed when crowing about her inventions.

Keiichi reached the end of his rope and in his futility, shouted at the two sisters. "Do you two really think I wanted all of this to happen? Did you think that this was all some great and grand plan that I cooked up? I was minding my own business calling for some take-out, when instead of noodles and beef, I get a goddess instead! She gives me a wish. I'm thinking my crazy sempais are pulling my leg, so I wish that she'd stay with me forever. Next thing I know, I'm kicked out of my dorm with this goddess tailing behind me, saying that we now have a contract and that she'll never leave me.

"Little did I know that with this goddess came a package deal. Wish for one and get two more at no extra cost. One's trying to get me to sleep with Belldandy, and the other is threatening to blow me up if I so much as lay a hand on her. On top of that, I end up falling in love with this goddess, and become a God myself. There's no way I could possibly come up with a whacked out scenario like this. So Urd and Skuld, please do me a favor and leave me alone right now!"

"I need to get out and get some air." He spluttered to no one in particular. He quickly left the room and headed outside.

Urd and Skuld stopped their arguing long enough to watch Keiichi stagger out of the waiting room, and then looked at each other as if they had no idea of what they just witnessed. "What the heck was all THAT about?" Skuld said. Urd shrugged her shoulders, raised her hands in utter bewilderment and responded. " Don't ask me. The more I try to figure that boy out, the less I understand."

Keiichi had enough of the bickering between the two contentious sisters and took off down the hall. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts. He was worried sick about Belldandy. He had complete faith in the treatment staff, but he so wanted to be there for his goddess. He wondered what Belldandy was going through. Was she feeling any pain? Would she be the same after all was said and done? His question was answered a few minutes later when he almost bumped into one of the staff deities treating Belldandy. She was a tall very beautiful Goddess wearing a white robe carrying a device that Keiichi had never seen before. She had a quiet, yet authoritative air about him. Kei guessed that she was one of the senior members of the staff.

"I am Frigga, the senior supervisor on staff. I will be the one supervising Belldandy's recovery. I have very good news" The staff member said. "It looks like Belldandy is going to be all right. Urd did a very good job on the initial treatment and the amount of damage encountered was significant, but can be easily repaired with our facilities and some rest."

"So how long will she have to stay here?" Keiichi asked.

Frigga checked the device in her hand. "No more than a few days. Mostly for the rest and to get her powers realigned. The treatment required is simple, but rather time consuming. We have to make sure that Belldandy is as fully healed as possible before allowing her to take up her powers again."

Impatiently, Keiichi asked, "So when can I,uh,we see her?"

"Not for a few hours. Be patient. Frigga said. "We're just getting past the most important part of the treatment, and it's imperative that she gets as much rest as possible before we allow her to have visitors. So you can either wait here or maybe venture out and do some sightseeing. You're still new to being a God, so maybe you should go out and check out Heaven. There's a lot for you to see."

"You know of me?" Keiichi stammered in astonishment.

"Oh, yes, you're quite the talk of the realm. You're the first human ever elevated to God status. Every Goddess in Heaven went to Belldandy's hearing. Myself included. That only happens when something really big happens here. I was very impressed by the way you comported yourself and Belldandy is a very lucky Goddess to have someone like you in her life.

"You're somewhat famous. Being coupled with one of the highest ranked and most beloved Goddesses in Heaven confers quite a bit of status."  
Keiichi could hardly believe what he'd heard. From being a nerdy, clueless college student with no luck in attracting women to a well known deity with a gorgeous goddess for a girlfriend in the span of a few short years. It took him aback when he thought about all that had happened to him since that night when he ordered takeout and got a goddess instead. The enormity of trying to wrap his head around it all made him more than a little dizzy. He ran out of the Treatment facility and into the main streets of Heaven.

Chapter 13

Walking down Heaven's main thoroughfare, Keiichi immediately allowed the divine realm's calming effect to wash over him. The immense beauty and perfection of the skies, the buildings and even the Gods and Goddesses literally forced him to relax. It was as if strife and suffering were forbidden here. All of the anger that he harbored against Urd and Skuld vanished, and was replaced with a powerful, yet gentle sense of peace and well-being.

He was struck by its magnificence the first time he came to Heaven back when he and the other Goddesses including the extremely sexy, but self-absorbed Peorth as well as the cold and efficient warrior goddess Lind had arrived to escort Belldandy and her sisters to her hearing.

Back then he was able to enjoy Heaven due to the transition spell that he was under. That spell allowed him to function in Heaven's environment at a basic level. But now that he was a fully vetted God, he could fully understand and appreciate all that Heaven held in store. He breathed in the sweet, pure air. It was nothing like the occasionally smoggy air of Nekomi City.

He seriously entertained the thought of just forgoing his Earthly life, and moving to Heaven to live with Belldandy for eternity. Kami-sama gave him that right. He could exercise it anytime he wanted. No more chores around the temple. No more Tamiya and Ootaki to push him around and include him in their loony schemes. No more Megumi to mooch his food. No more of those little rich bitch cousins Sayoko and Aoshima swanning about and showing off their immense wealth. He could see and experience Belldandy in her truly divine form every day.

But after some thought he came to the conclusion that despite all that, he enjoyed the fun times that he had with his friends. The Motor Club booze-ups were legendary in their debauchery and in the staggering amounts of beer and sake drunk. The successes that he and his sempais piled up in racing more than offset the times he was pressganged into yet another of their ludicrous money-making ventures that usually ended up costing themmore money than they ever made. Keiichi would miss those times when he and his friends in the Motor Club would be up all night putting together bikes and cars for races. Getting his hands dirty twisting wrenches and turning screws. The smells of gas and oil mixed with sweat and victory.

He would miss the ever-so-cute Sora Hasegawa who made up for her lack of height and her schoolgirl features with a intense desire to work hard and do whatever it took to get the job done. He'd miss Chihiro Fujimi, his boss and the closest thing he had to a big sister, She could be a pain, but she also helped along with his dream of building his own motorcycles when she opened her bike shop and hired him on as a mechanic. No doubt this friends would all wonder what happened to Keiichi and those three mysterious women that inhabited the old temple on the edge of town. Why they suddenly disappeared without a trace.

He also thought about how such a move would affect the goddesses. Over the years they became fully acclimated to life on Earth. Belldandy learned to cook and knit and took genuine joy in those domestic chores. Urd and Skuld discovered television and became enraptured with fighting amongst themselves to control the clicker. Skuld fell in love with an Earth boy and their relationship was getting stronger every day. Keiichi wondered how Skuld would handle not being able to see Sentaro everyday. Not very well, he concluded. And Urd was...Urd. She had found a new world in which to work her special brand of mischief and mayhem.

Keiichi decided that it was best to stay on Earth and take the occasional trip into Heaven when he needed to get away from it all. His life thus far had its good and bad moments, and those moments took a completely different direction and scope when the Goddesses came into his life. But ultimately, he realized that to truly enjoy the good parts of life, one had to experience the bad also. Besides, he cringed at the thought of what would happen if Tamiya and Ootaki ever got hold of his prize BMW motorcycle. If there was one thing he loved nearly as much as that bike, it was the goddess that rode in its sidecar. Keiichi never felt more on top of the world than when he was riding down the road with the two greatest joys in his life alongside. The hum of the legendary BMW boxer motor and the smile of his goddess. He would miss that if he were to relocate to Heaven permanently.

The heavenly city was laid out before him in all its perfection and glory. Not a line out of place, the colors flowed together in a seamless mosaic, never clashing or overpowering. Buildings complemented each other, retaining their individual uniqueness, but still adding to the overall beauty of the architectural layout. Harmony was the rule of the day. Chaos had no place here. The Gods and Goddesses were all beautiful and perfect. Many had recognized Keiichi from the hearing. They were looking at him, some in a manner of welcoming, others wondering what he was doing here.

Keiichi remembered that in Heaven, he only had to look at a person and could communicate with them by just sharing thoughts. And they could also share thoughts with him. He mentally opened up his mind to hear what those around him were saying.

"**There's that Keiichi fellow. He's the one who fell in love with Belldandy. He's so lucky. To be with such a goddess. I'm so jealous."**

** "I was at the hearing and when I first saw him, I thought he was such a loser. He fooled me. He's not such a bad guy after all. And he's got Belldandy, so he obviously has something going for him."**

"**He's the only human ever to be made a God. Lucky guy. Wonder why he's here?"**

** "I don't care what anybody thinks, I still think he's a joke. Belldandy is a fool for having fallen in love with THAT human. I won't recognize him as a God!"**

**Keiichi...**

** "I had my chance at Belldandy once. She turned me down flat. Said she wasn't ready to get back into a relationship, that she was burned one time before. Who was it again? Yeah! Celestin. He was a piece of work. Almost destroyed Heaven once. He had the nerve to use Belldandy's connection to Yggdrasil to install a virus that almost wrecked the system. Glad he's no longer around to cause trouble."**

**Keiichi... **

** "Let's see, I have to go to the Licensing Bureau to get my goddess license renewed, then over to the...Hey you! Keiichi? It's rude to read other people's thoughts without their permission! Go away!**

**KEIICHI!**

Lost in his reverie, he had not paid attentionto the voice in his head calling him.

"Yaaaa!, Who's calling me?"

" It's me, Urd!"

"What's going on?"

"You've been gone for such a long time, I wanted to check in on you and tell you that Belldandy can receive visitors now."

"I couldn't have been gone that long. I just left the Treatment facility."

"By Earth time, you've been gone about 6 hours. Remember, time proceeds at a much different pace here in Heaven compared to Earth. So if you want to see Belldandy, you better get back here quick."

Keiichi had gotten so wrapped up in his own thoughts and the beauty of Heaven that he paid no attention as to where he was. Consequently he was very lost, and had no idea where the Treatment facility was.

"Uh, Urd?"

"Yes, Keiichi?"

"I'm lost."

"Why did I know you were going to say that? Keiichi, you can be such an idiot sometimes."

"Sorry, I just got caught up in all that was going on that I'd lost track of time and my location."

"What am I going to do with you, Keiichi? Do you still have that message cube with you?"

"Yes, I do."

"Open it up"

Keiichi pulled out the cube, held it up to his face and mentally commanded it to open. The cube unfolded itself like it did before into the paper image allowing him to sit for the First Class Exam. There was what looked to be a stamp on the image that wasn't there before that indicated Keiichi's intention to sit for the exam and the confirmation of such by Belldandy. It was sealed with her Goddess symbol.

"Okay, Urd, it's open."

"Now, think of the word 'Menu.'"

Keiichi did so and the image gave way to a menu of choices.

"One of those choices should say 'Teleport'"

"It does."

"Select that command."

"Okay."

"Now be very careful. Visualize the front of the treatment center and project that image into the cube. Visualize yourself standing on the ground in front of the doorway."

Keiichi did so and felt that familiar pull in his stomach, the surrounding sights of Heaven became a vortex of lights swirling around him and he felt himself being carried away. Seconds later, he found himself in front of the treatment center, but instead of standing on the ground he was floating about seven feet in the air. The vortex released him and he dropped like a rock to the ground. He landed on his backside with a jarring thud. He wasn't hurt physically, more embarrassed than anything. Urd was standing in the doorway and watched the whole thing happen. She shook her head in disgust and said "That was pathetic! Teleportation is yet another thing we're going to have to work on. At this rate you'll be materializing into walls and at the bottom of lakes." She didn't bother to help him up.

"Let's go and see Belldandy. And try to contain yourself, Keiichi. Open displays of affection are frowned upon up here."

Keiichi followed Urd as they walked down the hallway. They entered a room with pure white walls. Skuld was already in the room, a look of concern on her face. Other than the bed that Belldandy was lying on, there was no other furniture in the room. There was no medical equipment present except for a projection of a status screen that floated above the goddess's head. Keiichi looked all around the room to find the projector that was showing that screen, but found nothing. Like all other rooms in Heavenly buildings, this room was brightly lit, but the source of that light was unseen. Symbols and graphs that Keiichi couldn't make head or tails of, flew by on the screen.

Belldandy was laying comfortably on the bed dressed in a white gown. She was awake and alert although quiet. She looked gorgeous as usual. The seal that limited her powers was missing from her left ear, and her forehead mark had changed to reflect that status. Her long luxurious hair was platinum blond instead of its usual chestnut brown. A big smile came across her face as she saw Keiichi and Urd walk into the room.

"Oh Keiichi, Oh Urd! Belldandy said with cheerfulness and relief as she raised herself up from the bed to receive hugs from her big sister and her lover.

"I'm so glad to see you! I've missed you both so much!"

Keiichi held his goddess gently. "I've missed you too Belldandy." He felt like he would break her in two if he held her too tightly, but he wanted her to know how much she meant to him. Belldandy sensed his hesitation and whispered "Don't worry, Keiichi. I'm all right. You don't have to hold back."

Keiichi believed her, but all the same, he saw the storm that was building in Skuld's eyes, and decided not to push his luck. He whispered "If it's all the same with you, Bell, we'll take care of that when we get back home. If you know what I mean." She picked up on his message, and nodded her head.

Urd said "So, Bell, how are they treating you here? I told the staff that if you didn't get their fullest attention, there'd be holy hell to pay. I know Frigga, the senior supervisor. We went through Goddess training together. She owed me a favor or two."

"I'm feeling just fine, Urd." Belldandy said brightly. "All the damage was fixed and I'll be able to take up my powers very soon. We'll be able to go home in another day or so."

Keiichi was overjoyed. "That's great, Bell!"

Belldandy took a look at Keiichi and said, "Hmm, someone's been outside enjoying Heaven."

Kei blushed and said "Guilty as charged. I had to get out and do some of the sightseeing we weren't able to do the last time we were up there. How could you tell I was outside?"

Bell took Keiichi's hand and said "Heaven has the ability to take away a person's fears and concerns and replace them with joy and happiness. I knew that you were so worried about me that I figured that you would need to go out and enjoy yourself. It's too bad that I could not join you. I could show you so many wonderful sights. Heaven is such a magical place."

Keiichi picked up on that thought. "Belldandy, I was thinking. What would you say about all of us leaving the temple and coming up here to live in Heaven permanently?"

The smile that appeared on Belldandy's face quickly disappeared. It was replaced with a look of stern disapproval. The moment Keiichi saw it, he knew he did something very stupid. "I don't understand, Keiichi. Do you not enjoy living in the temple? Why would you want to leave all our friends, our memories of the great times we've had?"

Keiichi realized that he hit a sore spot with Belldandy and immediately moved to backtrack. " I had merely thought about the idea of moving. I'm not entirely committed to it. I wanted to sound you out about it. I wanted to know what you thought."

Belldandy said with a resolve that surprised even Keiichi and Urd, "No! I don't want to leave the temple! I love it there. I love all of our friends. I never want to give that up. I have become so much more of a goddess because of what I've learned since being on Earth. I have found out so much about humans and how they live and love. I want to be more like them. I love being a goddess, but there are so many things that humans can teach us. And I want to learn it all. And the only way I can do that is to stay on Earth and live with and among humans. And I want you to be with me. Will you do that, Keiichi? Will you stay with me, and help me?" She pleaded.

Bell's ocean-blue eyes pierced through Keiichi's soul and filled him full of guilt.

Keiichi learned long ago that when Belldandy spoke like that, she was taking a firm position and would not move from it. "Of course, Belldandy. Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, I will be by your side. I'm sorry I even brought up the topic."

Skuld said "Geez, Keiichi, you can be a real dolt sometimes. Didn't you even think about asking me and Urd what we thought about this? We love being on Earth too. We've learned a lot about humans too. I don't want to leave Sentaro behind. He needs me and...and" Skuld wiped a tear from her eye. "I need him too!" She broke down in a flood of tears and ran from the room.

Urd was trying to remain coolly detached from it all, but she could not stay aloof much longer. "Now look what you've done, Keiichi. You've depressed Belldandy and made Skuld cry. Congratulations, you've really done it this time. Open mouth, insert foot."

Keiichi felt about a foot tall. "I'm sorry guys, I just wanted to see what you thought about this, and then I go and make a mess of it. I can't seem to do anything right."

Belldandy reached out and wrapped her arms around her man. "Nonsense, Keiichi. Don't listen to Urd. You've done so many things right. You've welcomed us into your life, and made us feel at home. You put up with all the good and the bad that comes with being a goddess living amongst humans. You've given up so much for us. And sometimes we don't show our appreciation like we should. We have turned your life upside-down, and you've never turned us away. It was within your right to send us home. You could have ended the contract at anytime, but you never did. And while I can't speak for Urd and Skuld, I truly appreciate all you do for us goddesses."

"Belldandy, I just want to make you happy. That's all I live for."

"Keiichi, you've made me happier than I have any right to be."

"I love you, Belldandy."

"I love you, too Keiichi."

Urd was getting tired of the sickly sweet lovey-dovey. "I'm getting a bad case of the hives right now. Frigga's here and she wants to tell you something."

Chapter 14

Frigga walked into the room. "I'm glad to report that Belldandy is now ready to take up her powers. Everything checks out. Urd, go and get Skuld. We need everyone's help in order to do this right." Urd left the room leaving Frigga and Keiichi alone with Belldandy.

Keiichi appeared confused. "How are we going to help Bell get her powers back?"

Frigga said, "Urd and Skuld are Belldandy's sisters. All three are also the Norns of Time. Urd of the Past, Belldandy of the Present, Skuld of the Future. They play a major role in the making Heaven what it is. Their powers are interconnected in ways that it would be impossible for me to explain to you so that you'd understand. In your case, you and Belldandy are coupled together."

"Coupled T-together?" Keiichi stammered.

"Yes, Coupled together. I assume that since you were elevated to God status, you and Belldandy have been, um..., shall we say, intimate?"

Keiichi looked extremely guilty. "Uh, yes we have. Is there a problem? Did we do anything wrong?"

Frigga moved to assuage his fears. "Oh no, it was pretty much expected that you two would end up in a state of intimacy. Everyone at the hearing could see it in both of your faces. When a God and a Goddess become physically intimate for the first time, they develop a powerful and everlasting bond. It's called a Sacred Coupling. Part of your life force entered into Belldandy and part of her's entered into you. Your part in all this is to reactivate the portion of your life force that you placed into Belldandy."

Keiichi broke into a cold sweat "You mean, that me and Belldandy have to...Here? Right now?"

For the first time, Frigga showed an emotion other than detached professionalism. She broke out in a hearty laugh "Urd was right, you are a bit dense aren't you? No, the portion of your life force within Belldandy was shut down when her powers were taken off-line. We just need you to reactivate that portion as we give her back her powers. You don't need to become intimate with Belldandy in order to do that. When the time comes to do the ritual, I'll explain what you have to do."

Keiichi asked "So what about this whole Sacred Coupling thing? What does it do? How does it work?"

Frigga said "Well, the Sacred Coupling allows the two deities so coupled to combine their powers to a level greater than their total sum. They can share each others powers. You would be able to use Belldandy's Wind powers, although not to the same level of ability as her, because she's a First Class Goddess and you're a Second Class God. That and also because Wind is her natural element. "

"Oh, so that's why I was able to use Wind spells, but I wasn't able to control them

very well. The Sacred Coupling allowed me to basically "borrow" Belldandy's abilities to cast Wind Spells."

Frigga responded "That's pretty much it. It goes a little further than that, but that is the basic idea. But the one thing you have to remember is that in certain cases, the Coupling can work against you in that whatever happens to you would also end up affecting her. So you have to be very careful. Also to a limited degree, a God and Goddess in a Sacred Coupling can share their thoughts and even send and receive energy from each other. Ahh, Urd and Skuld have come back. Now we can get started."

Urd and Skuld had walked back into the room. From the look on her face, Skuld had been crying for a while. Keiichi knew that there was nothing he could do to make her feel better. He knew how quickly the raven-haired goddess's moods could change and he figured that she'd snap out of it eventually, especially the moment her eyes ran across some cool looking piece of tech. Urd continued to look aloof and disinterested by it all.

Frigga gathered them all together and said "Okay, here's how this is going to work. We're going to form a circle around Belldandy. Each one of you has to visualize her as an empty vessel, devoid of power, having no energy at all. When I start the spell, you extend your hands towards her and visualize yourself filling her with your power. Feel the power leaving you and entering her. See her becoming more powerful, and being made whole again. Don't worry about losing power yourself. You'll have plenty to spare. This shouldn't take long. We do thousands of these power restores, so it's not a major procedure. Just do as I say, and it will all work out."

Everyone nodded their understanding, and spread out to form their circle. As soon as they all got into place, a complicated looking magic circle appeared on the floor around them. Belldandy stood in the middle of the circle. Keiichi in front, Urd to her right, Skuld behind her, and Frigga to her left. Frigga said, "Everyone close your eyes and clear your minds. Imagine Belldandy as an empty vessel. Keiichi did so and in his mind he saw Belldandy flat on her back on a bed. But she was strangely translucent, devoid of color. He imagined himself pouring his energy into her, replenishing her.

Frigga intoned the spell.

_Here we have a little bird, her wings have been clipped and her strength has been sapped._

_ She needs the help of those she loves to grow new wings so she can take to the _

_ sky once again. _

_ Sisters and Lovers come forth, stand ready to lend your aid. Add your power to hers. Fill her with life anew. Give to her your strength. Make this little bird whole again. _

While deep in concentration, Keiichi could see the color returning to the form of Belldandy in his mind. He could see and feel the power leaving his body and entering hers. Moment by moment, he saw the energy returning to his goddess. She became less translucent as the color returned to her. Though his eyes were closed and he was very involved in the working of the spell, in his mind's eye, he could see Urd and Skuld also pouring their power into Belldandy. Their forehead marks were glowing blue-white.

The stream of power coming from Urd was a fiery reddish-orange, indicative of her Fire/ Electricity element. Skuld's power stream was a deep Water element blue. Keiichi's was an brownish grey with streaks of green, due to his Earth element. The streams of color mixed together within the image of Belldandy in Keiichi's mind. They came together to form the porcelain-white pigment of Belldandy's skin. The colorless orbs where her eyes were became lavender-blue once again.

The image became clothed with the goddess's formal robes of authority. Her beautiful and majestic white wings sprang forth, filling the room. With a flourish of feathers and streaks of light, Belldandy's angel Holy Bell appeared from her back and rose above her head, arms raised in praise and singing the song of the angels. Belldandy raised her arms and began to sing, her soprano voice outclassing even the greatest opera singers. So clear and pure and perfect. Urd and Skuld accompanied their sister. Keiichi didn't dare sing along, he didn't know the song and he just wanted to listen and bathe in the perfection of their harmonies.

Tears came to his eyes as he was carried away on the notes of the Goddess's Song. It reminded him of that day, just a few weeks ago, when he heard another Song of the Goddesses. The Song that made him a God and bound Belldandy to him for eternity. The thousands of voices that filled that hall with complex harmonies of perfection filled his heart again and combined with the Norns of Time. Keiichi could hear each voice, each note. Flawless in harmony and execution. The last thing he remembered seeing before he passed out was the forming of a white glow over the image of Belldandy in his mind. It entered her body and settled over her heart. He knew exactly what that glow was. It was his life force. The portion of his life force implanted into Belldandy the first time they made love. He looked down at his own chest and could see a matching glow over his heart. The same pure white color. Her life force had returned to him. At that point, he knew that the spell was complete and had done its work.


	6. Part 6

Chapter 15

"Does this happen to him often?"

"Yeah, any time we do a magical working, he passes out. I think it's just a ruse to get Belldandy to coddle him. She's such a patsy when it comes to Keiichi."

"I can see why. As soon as he hit the floor, Belldandy was on top of him."

" You really want to see something funny? Watch this."

K-Z-Z-Z-Z-A-A-AK!

"KEIICHI!"

"YAAAAAAGH Wha-wha-wha!"

Eyes snap open, Belldandy's face filling his vision. "Hi, Keiichi!"

"ARRRRRGH!"

Frigga and Urd doubled over in roaring laughter. Belldandy kneeling on the floor Keiichi's head in her lap. Keiichi shot up out his slumber as if hit with a lightning bolt, which in fact, was what happened to him. The first thing he saw was Belldandy looking down at him with a big smile on her face, but in the first few seconds after being jolted awake his brain was still half asleep and very much open to surprise. The shock of being zapped by Urd plus the sight of a very healthy, happy, and heavenly enhanced Belldandy overloaded Keiichi's senses and caused him to freak out. He fell over on his back as he took deep heaving breaths to calm his racing heart.

"Urd, why do you keep doing that to me, you're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days." Keiichi moaned while still trying to recover from the double shocks.

"Have you forgotten Keiichi?, You're a God now, you can't have heart attacks." Urd said while still chuckling at her latest prank.

"Oh, Yeah."

"Keiichi?"

"Yes, Belldandy?"

"Are you all right?"

"I should be asking you the same question."

" I'm fine. I've never felt better."

The treatment was a complete success. Belldandy was back to normal. Her powers restored. There was no sign that she was the victim of a savage attack by the Daimaikaicho. Frigga checked the mysterious device she always carried with her and said, "Belldandy is cleared to leave. She's in tip-top form."

Bell said in response. "Thank you everybody for seeing me through this time. I appreciate the sacrifices each and every one of you have made to make sure I was taken care of. When we get home, I'm going to prepare a great feast for everyone to

celebrate."

Urd responded happily "Oh yeah, there's a bottle of sake in the liquor cabinet with my name on it. And I'm not sharing it with anybody." She sauntered up to Keiichi and Belldandy, put her arms around the shoulders of both of them and slyly whispered "Keiichi, you and Belldandy may need to spend some time alone when we get home. Just to make sure that **everything's** all right with your goddess, if you know what I mean." She tipped Keiichi a wink. " I can arrange for Skuld to be, shall we say, occupied doing some much needed maintenance work on Yggdrasil. I know for a fact that the energy transfer subsystem that was hacked needs to be patched. Just give me the word and she'll be chasing bugs for days!"

Keiichi caught Urd's drift and while he was looking forward to some alone time with Belldandy, he didn't want to appear too eager.

"I think, I can trust Frigga's expertise in this matter, although one can never be too sure." He looked at Belldandy with a hint of lust, while she merely giggled like a giddy schoolgirl. "But I think that I want to take up Bell's offer of a little sightseeing. I want to see some of her favorite places."

Belldandy could barely contain her excitement when she said "I'd love to show you the places I love the most. And there's no better way to experience those places than with the one you love the most, right Keiichi?"

"I learned a long time ago to never argue with a Goddess." The deities rendered thanks and goodbyes to Frigga and went their separate ways.

While Urd and Skuld headed back to Earth, Keiichi and his goddess left the treatment center to do some sightseeing. They decided to walk instead of teleport because it allowed them to take their time and also Keiichi had very little confidence in his teleportation abilities after the last episode.

Walking down the street, he still couldn't believe how beautiful and perfect Heaven was. Even passing those sights a second time around, they always brought about a sense of wonder and awe. He was always seeing something new that wasn't there before. Hand in hand, Belldandy pointed out various places that were important to her. The building where she took her goddess training. The groves and forests where she used to play as a child. They stopped in front of a large impossibly tall crystal building. Belldandy said with much pride, "Keiichi, this is where I work. The Goddess Assistance Agency." As she was talking, goddesses were streaming into and out of the building constantly.

"Who are all these goddesses and where are they going?" Keiichi asked.

"They are all responding to wishes made by people such as yourself." Belldandy answered. "The ones leaving are heading out to grant wishes, the ones coming back have fulfilled their contracts and are checking back in for another assignment."

Keiichi asked, "How many contracts have you completed?"

Belldandy looked up into the sky, closed her eyes, put her finger to the side of her mouth, and said, "Honestly, I don't quite know. I've never kept track of how many contracts I've done. I'm sure that Yggdrasil has the figure somewhere, but it's never occurred to me to actually keep count. I know some goddesses who do that, but I'm not one of them. I base the performance of my job not on the number of contracts I've completed, but on well I complete them. How happy people are with the service I provided. We can get rewards and special insignia to wear based on the number of contracts completed and the percentage of how many were completed with high marks, but I've never accepted them. I don't need them."

"So, are you still able to make and fulfill contracts while you're with me?"

"Yes, Keiichi. When we still had a contract, I was able to continue my work here granting wishes for other clients as long as they didn't interfere with my contract with you. Your contract had priority over all others. You may have noticed that there were days that I wasn't in the temple and hadn't gone shopping? Those were the times that I was here in Heaven fulfilling contracts. I also granted a lot of wishes at night while you were asleep."

"They must have been short-term contracts."

"The majority of contracts us Goddesses deal with can be fulfilled in a matter of hours up to a few days. Most of us have one long-term contract and a number of short-term contracts that we handle at any given time."

" I'm glad that you were still able to do your job while still maintaining your commitment to me. I would have felt guilty if you weren't able to do what you love to do."

"Well. I'm glad that I was contracted to someone who was so understanding. I have been so fortunate to have the two things I love the most, You and my calling as a Goddess."

"And as long as you need me, I'll always be here."

"Thanks, Keiichi."

Before long, they were standing at the top of a ridge overlooking the main city of Heaven. The sight was magnificent. Unlike Earth, where the constructs of man fought and prevailed over the flora and fauna of nature, in Heaven the buildings and other structures existed in perfect harmony with nature's creation. The whole of the landscape simply flowed together in a flawless mix. It flourished in some kind of an order that dictated that both the artificial and the natural would coexist side by side peacefully. Only in Heaven could such a thing exist. It was truly a spectacular scene.

Keiichi and Belldandy simply stood at the top of that ridge and took in the sights and sounds. They didn't say a word to each other, they just let themselves be immersed in the world around them. The sky had turned a kaleidoscope of colors, some recognizable by human eyes, others seen only in Heaven. The wind was alive, singing its own melodious song, one that Belldandy picked up and followed along. Her angelic voice combined with the wind to produce a complex tapestry of sound, multi-layered harmonies so precise that not a sour note could be heard. Nearby birds also joined in, adding their voices to the goddess and the wind. The combination lifted Keiichi's spirits to even higher heights. He felt himself being carried away on the combined voices of the wind and its goddess. He was rendered speechless. His senses overwhelmed. But one desire stood out from the others. He wanted Belldandy. And he could sense through the portion of his life force in her that she was thinking the same thing.

The wind shifted direction and then eventually died away. Belldandy finished her song at the same time, allowing her voice to die away in perfect time with the wind and the birds. She looked at Keiichi as if to gain approval. Keiichi said nothing but held his arms out to Belldandy. She needed no further prompting and rushed into them.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him into her, holding him tightly. He looked into her deep blue eyes and kissed her fully on the lips. She responded in kind, her lips meeting his as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Their hearts beating in perfect time.

She pushed Keiichi back until they both fell to the ground still entwined in each others arms. Belldandy landed on top of Keiichi and continued to kiss him deeply. A mere thought caused her robes to disappear leaving her naked, her perfect body given over to the one she loved.

Keiichi witnessed the unveiling of his goddess and submitted to Belldandy's beauty and allure. Not a word was spoken. Their hearts and bodies did all the talking as they slowly and tenderly made love atop that ridge. No one could see them and even if they could, Keiichi and Belldandy were too far along in their pleasure to care. Their only goal, their only objective was for each to please the other.

Their passion generated a powerful wave of energy that resonated throughout the area. They explored each others bodies, finding those points that released the most intense feelings of desire. Both God and Goddess became one in purpose and spirit. They craved each other, wanted each other, and finally fulfilled each other.

Their love-making was pure and innocent, the product of a deep, abiding love. Born out of a contract, strengthened by the sharing of two lives together. The joys, sorrows, pain, and pleasure. Victories, defeats, lessons learned and taught. Finalized by a song sung by thousands of goddesses united in one purpose.

After what seemed like hours, they were spent. The energy dissipated. Bell still laying on top of Keiichi, a look of pure contentment on her face. Keiichi said "That was incredible. Better than any of our previous sessions." Belldandy kissed Keiichi again, ran her finger along Keiichi's cheek and said "We've just experienced the highest form of pleasure. A God and Goddess making love in Heaven. It does not get much better than this." She then laid her head on his chest and listened to his beating heart.

"We won't, uh...get in any trouble, will we?"

"No, Keiichi. We're fine."

They stayed wrapped in each others arms for the rest of the day. Holding, caressing, touching, loving. As night fell, they got to their feet, dressed and made their way back to the gate to for the trip back to the temple. When they finally arrived at the temple, Urd was there to meet them. She was sitting in the Tea Room with a bottle of sake. She poured out two cups for Kei and Bell. One look at their faces told her all she needed to know, and for once she didn't make any snarky remarks. One could almost see the slightest hint of jealousy cross Urd's face.

Chapter 16

"So, lemme guess." Urd quipped. "You two went up to Windsong Ridge."

Belldandy could hardly believe it. "How did you know?"

"Bell, do you think you two were the only ones to ever do it on Windsong Ridge?" Urd said. "That place is Heaven's answer to Lover's Lane here on Earth. Damn near every couple I know including Troubadour and I ended up there sometime in their relationship. Too bad Ol' Troubie was a terrible lover. Couldn't get a rise out of me to save his life. Oh well, even bad sex is good."

Keiichi said victoriously, "I think that we did extremely well."

Urd swigged her shot of sake and said "Too bad you didn't tell me you were heading up there. I could have given you some tips that would have really gotten Belldandy off."

"Believe me, Urd." Keiichi said confidently. "I had no problem taking care of Belldandy's needs."

"Hmm, so going from a geek who couldn't get a cow like Sayoko to go to the museum with him to being a big-time Romeo who could make a Norn squeal like a schoolgirl. My, how we've advanced since becoming divine. By the way, I'd burn that blazer if I were you. It's horrid. No wonder Sayoko turned you down."

Urd was referring to the blazer that Keiichi had owned for the longest time. It had vertical purple and multi- shaded green stripes, lapels wide enough to land a plane on, and while Keiichi was proud of that blazer, the truth was, it was very tacky. The first day Keiichi arrived on campus as a freshman, he tried to impress the Mishima Group CEO's daughter by inviting her to the local museum while wearing that same jacket. What she did to his ego would be the equivalent of a steamroller facing off against a squirrel. In short, she smashed it flat. Not only that, he was ridiculed by every student on campus, not only for being destroyed by Sayoko, but for having the gall to wear that blazer. Still, despite that day, he held onto that jacket, although he hadn't worn it for at least a year.

"Hmph!" An indignant Keiichi said. "I will not burn that blazer. It took me two months of part-time jobs to pay for it. And besides, I bet that Belldandy thinks it looks nice on me."

Urd laughed and said. "Put your money where your mouth is. What do you want to bet?"

Keiichi said "I'll bet a bottle of that sake you're drinking against you washing my bike for the next three weeks."

Urd said "You do know that this bottle cost 4500 yen. You're willing to put up that much money? You're either very confident or very foolish. I'll take that bet."

The two shook on it. Urd said. "Okay Belldandy. What say you?"

Belldandy looked at both of them with a pained look on her face. Her conscience was fighting a war with itself. As a First Class Goddess, she was forbidden to lie, but she also tried as hard as she could to protect Keiichi's feelings as much as possible. She wished she could find a way to say something to allow both of them to save face, but there was no way out.

"Keiichi" Bell said reluctantly. "You know that no matter what you wear, I'll always love you and I would be proud to appear in public with you however you decide to dress, but, that blazer does not look good on you. I'm sorry."

"YES!" Urd crowed. She did a fist pump and danced around the room. "I'm getting another bottle of sake!" while Keiichi groaned and Belldandy tried her best to console him. "I'm sorry, Keiichi. I wanted to say something to support you, but I couldn't lie."

"Don't worry, Bell. You were telling the truth as you saw it. I would not expect anything less from you. The truth sometimes hurts both the person who tells it as well as the person who hears it. If it were easy to tell the truth, even Urd would do it." Keiichi said getting a subtle dig at his nemesis.

Urd stopped dancing and glared at Keiichi. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. Even such an insult as that can't distract me from my victory. But say it again, and see what happens." Urd winked at Keiichi, finished the bottle and headed off to her lab.

Belldandy and Keiichi were left alone. Belldandy started to clear the table off to prepare dinner.

Keiichi stretched his arms and yawned. "Boy, I'm glad to finally be back to normal around here. Even though we've only been away for three days, It feels like three months."

Belldandy said "That's because this is the first time in over two weeks that I've been able to cook and keep house and do all those things that make this place a home. Hope you're plenty hungry. I'm going to cook a really special meal to celebrate our return to the temple."

"So tomorrow, I want to start preparing for the First Class exam. About how long do you think I should practice before taking it?"

Belldandy said "I would say that you should practice for at least a week or so."

"There's no way, you can give me a clue about what the exam will consist of, is there?" Keiichi asked, knowing Bell's answer, but any advantage he could get couldn't hurt.

Bell said "No. I can't tell you what the exam will consist of because the three challenges are decided solely by your proctor. And as your proctor, I haven't determined what I will be asking you to do yet. The only thing I can tell you is that the challenges will not be easy, but they will be within your abilities. Also, remember that to be a First Class deity not only means having a lot of power at your disposal, but also having the control needed to use it wisely, or whether it's best to use it at all. I can't tell you any more than that. I'm going to start dinner now, Okay?" She left the room and headed to the kitchen. Keiichi sat there and thought about what Belldandy had said. He remembered the time that Urd had sat for the First Class Exam. Belldandy and Peorth acted as her proctors. As he remembered it, the first challenge was to make a glass of water boil without using a Fire spell. Urd succeeded by enclosing the glass in a mini tornado which lowered the atmospheric pressure within the vortex, thereby lowering the boiling point of the water to the point where it could boil at ambient temperature. So he figured that at least one of the challenges would require him to use an element that he wasn't completely familiar with. So that meant he'd have to get in some practice with Fire/Electricity and Water spells.

The second of Urd's challenges required her to trace her Goddess symbol onto the pavement using a high powered First Class level Lightning spell. The precision required to trace that highly complicated symbol using such a strong spell within her discipline required Urd to exercise supreme control over the destructive powers of that spell. It took tremendous concentration, but she managed to pass that second challenge. So it would be safe to say that Belldandy will issue a challenge requiring fine control of his most devastating spell.

The third challenge was one that only Peorth could come up with. She pinned a badge onto Keiichi that showed Keiichi's mood at any given time. Urd was given 24 hours to make that badge and the wearer happy. Of course, Urd being Urd, she tried for the quick, cheap win by appealing to Keiichi's carnal side by using the wind to flip Belldandy's skirt, giving him an eyeful of his Goddess's undies. But surprisingly, that approach didn't work nearly as well as she expected. While the sight of a pair of lace panties on a body as shapely as Belldandy's provided a very nice diversion, it wasn't enough to foster complete happiness.

Urd ultimately passed the challenge by making it rain while Kei and Bell were out on the town, forcing them to share an umbrella together. And once the couple were nice and happy, she topped it off by stopping the rain and creating a rainbow. The combination of Kei being with the woman he loved plus seeing that wondrous rainbow in the sky was enough to cause the badge to show the required amount of happiness and thereby insuring that Urd passed the test.

But that didn't give Keiichi enough to go on as he tried to figure out what Belldandy had in store for him. After racking his brains for a while, he figured that it was best to just cross that bridge when he came to it. So he started practicing with the idea of at least mastering the first two challenges of the test.

Day after day, he practiced for hours trying to do Fire, Electricity and Water spells. He worked hard attempting to create electricity spheres like before, and he was finally able to generate a decent enough charge that he could zap one of the statues in the courtyard. But he doubted that doing something that simple would be enough to pass the First Class exam. He noticed that while the effort required was still very taxing and caused no small number of headaches and frustration, he was actually able to generate electricity quicker and easier when he was practicing alone instead of with Belldandy and Urd watching him. In his mind, maybe that was due to the two goddesses providing an unintended diversion that he couldn't overcome, or just maybe, he was so bent on winning Belldandy's approval that he was trying too hard and letting the pressure get to him.

Why did he need Bell's approval after all? He had already earned it a long time ago. Bell would still love and support him even if he couldn't do any kind of magic. Just like when he was a human trying to figure out which end was up. Belldandy was the kind of goddess who didn't care about Keiichi's faults and shortcomings. She loved him the way he was and celebrated his wins and stood by him in defeat. And while Belldandy's desire to compete and win was every bit as strong as Keiichi's, she appreciated a strong effort and hard work even if it resulted in a loss. So it was pointless to try and win something that he already had.

He pushed out all thoughts of Belldandy. And concentrated solely on the task at hand. It wasn't easy to do because he thought about Bell all the time. But in his mind he created a box and shoved those thoughts into it and locked them away. And when he tried to bring the electricity this time, the image of the fireball came immediately, the code compiled with nearly the same amount of ease as if he was casting a Rock spell and within seconds he had a perfect sphere of electricity floating inches above his hands.

This new development caused him immense joy that he finally got over this seemingly insurmountable hurdle. He wanted to celebrate in the worst way, but he beat that thought back into the mental box he made, and continued to maintain his focus on manipulating that sphere. He made it as large as a basketball, and then shrunk it down to the size of a marble. He made it float up to the height of the temple roof and brought it back down to his fingers. He made it brighter and dimmer. He fired it at one of the trees in the courtyard and stopped it just inches away from impact.

Now because Electricity was not his natural element, it took more effort to get the sphere to do what he wanted to do. He could manipulate rocks and the earth with the ease of just throwing a switch. But he actually had to think about what he was doing when playing with Electricity. He created two spheres, then three, then four. With each sphere he made, his confidence rose, but the difficulty of keeping track of all of them eventually caught up to Keiichi, and in a momentary lapse, all but one of the spheres disappeared, the original still remaining, and to remind him to show proper respect, that sphere gave Keiichi a nice healthy shock before blinking out with a loud 'POP'.

The shock wasn't life threatening in any way, but it was enough to let Keiichi know that even though he made a major leap forward in his magical development, he still had quite a ways to go. It taught him that this kind of magic demanded respect and constant concentration and it had its ways of getting it from those who failed to show it. But either way, he counted it as a victory and called it a day.

Meanwhile, Belldandy was standing in the doorway of the temple leading out into the courtyard watching Keiichi intently as he practiced. She didn't say anything and dared not interfere with Kei. She knew what he was doing, and she knew that he had to put his feelings for her into that mental box for him to succeed. And she had no problem with that. If anything, she said to herself, _"Now he's finally getting it."_

Chapter 17

While Keiichi continued to practice for his upcoming exam. Urd pulled Belldandy aside and asked her to come into her lab to talk.

"So Belldandy, how's our student coming along?" Urd asked.

"He seems to have figured out how to control Fire and Water spells." Belldandy responded. "He's doing quite well as far as I can see."

Urd started straightening out her potions cabinet. "Have you given any thought as to why all of a sudden he's being given a chance to sit for the First Class Exam? Doesn't it seem odd that someone who's only been a God for barely a month is already taking an exam that Gods and Goddesses who have been doing this for eons may never have an opportunity to pursue? Something about this smells funny. Keiichi has been coming along well in his training, but Belldandy, you know as well as I do that he is not ready to take up First Class powers. He has you to teach him and to help him along, but he hasn't begun to explore the limits of his powers."

Belldandy pursed her lips and said "Urd, I am at a loss about what is going on here. It is strange that Keiichi has been singled out for this distinction. I know of no other God or Goddess who was offered the exam so quickly after coming into their power. I can only assume that either Kami-sama or the Heavenly Council has authorized this action to go through. You've seen the examination notice. It is legitimate."

"I don't know about that, Belldandy. I'd like to take a closer look at that notice. Can you go and get Keiichi's message cube and bring it to me? I want to verify the codes in that notice to make sure that it really is official."

"Urd, I can't go into Keiichi's personal things. Until we started sleeping together, I've never spent more than a few minutes in his room, and never without him knowing. To take something out of there without his permission would be a serious breach of trust."

Urd sighed loudly. "I know that you don't want to rummage through Keiichi's stuff. I'm not asking you to go through his dirty magazines, although why he still has them when he has you is completely beyond me. All I want is that cube. I have a feeling that there's more to it than meets the eye. Belldandy, please humor me."

Bell hesitated than answered, "Okay, I'll do it, but I have to let Keiichi know after we're done."

"Fine, no problem. Just get me the cube."

Bell got up and headed to Keiichi's room. But her conscience got the better of her. She walked into the courtyard and stopped next to Keiichi as he was working on his Water spells. "Keiiichi, I'm very proud of you. You're coming along very well. At this rate, you'll be ready for the exam in no time. Speaking of which, may I go into your room and take the message cube? Urd wants to take a look at it."

Keiichi stopped his spellwork, turned to Belldandy, and said, "Of course, Belldandy. You can go into my room anytime."

Belldandy asked, "You don't have a problem with that?"

"Of course not. I trust you completely. Why do you ask?"

"I didn't want to go through your things without asking you."

Keiichi put his hands on Belldandy's shoulders and said, "There's nothing in my room that you haven't seen before. I'm not hiding anything. Go ahead and get what you need. I'll see you later."

"Thanks, Keiichi."

"No problem, Belldandy." He kissed her and went back to practicing his spells.

She went into Kei's room and found the message cube next to the picture of herself standing in front of the temple bell. She was wearing the wide brimmed straw hat with the flower in the hatband, and she was dressed in that short white sundress with the sunflowers printed on it. Keiichi always liked that dress. She looked closely at the picture and could make out the prints of Keiichi's lips left after all the years of kissing that picture every morning when he awoke and every night before he retired. Of course now he kisses the real thing instead of the picture, but looking at that it warmed Belldandy's heart and reminded her of how lucky she truly was. She smiled and gave a smaill sigh. She then grabbed the cube and headed back to Urd's lab.

"Well now, let's see what we have here." Urd clucked as she looked over the cube. "Standard Type 2 Message Cube with full ten-dimensional quantum encryption. Piece of cake."

Belldandy asked, "Can you open it. Urd?"

Urd looked at Belldandy as if she was an idiot and responded, "Bell, you seem to forget I'm a System Administrator? Who do you think came up with the encryption scheme used in these things? I know that Peorth claims to have done it, but her version was cracked in one day. I ought to know, I cracked it. As long as they didn't change the default passphrase, I'm in."

With Belldandy looking on, Urd put the cube down on her lab table. She gazed at the crystal die with intense concentration. She intoned a long complicated stream of seemingly random syllables that made absolutely no sense to the uninitiated ear. Her forehead mark glowed bright white as she continued to utter the passphrase. The cube started to turn red, then blue, and then finally green before it finally opened up into the confirmation message for the exam. Urd continued to chant the phrase as menu after menu popped up and opened into deeper and deeper branches. Eventually, after countless menus, she finally came to the figures she was looking for. As she looked into the cube, a stream of letters, numbers and otherworldly runes flew past the surface of the cube too fast for anyone to understand except one trained as Urd.

After looking at the flying symbols for a while, she concluded "Well, the verification codes check out. This is a valid notice from the Department of Examinations. Other than the fact that they seriously need to change their passphrases, there's nothing here that indicates something amiss."

Bell looked at the symbols on the cube, decided that she couldn't make heads or tails of any of it, and then said, "Do you think that there's some kind of foul play involved here?

Urd picked up the cube, closed it and placed it back on the table. "Could be. It's remote, but not impossible. Are you thinking...?

"Yes I am. This could be part of a much bigger plan."

"What do you suggest we do?"

"Nothing for right now. Let's let this play out. And be on our guard for any little thing that doesn't make sense."

"Belldandy, this whole situation doesn't make sense. But I have to agree, the best we can do is to just roll with this and see where it ends up."


	7. Part 7

Chapter 18

The day for Keiichi's test was a cloudy one. Iron gray coulds hung in the air over Tarikihongan Temple. Although there was no threat of rain in the forecast, the skies conspired to make fools of the weather forecasters.

Keiichi woke up in a pretty good mood. He was nervous about what would happen and what challenges Belldandy would have for him. He had been practicing Fire/Electricity and Water magic all week, and while his command of those elements wasn't of the same caliber as his ability to work Earth magic, he had made strong progress in those fields. He looked over to where Belldandy usually slept next to him and he noticed she wasn't there. _"Hmm, wonder where she ran off to?" _ he said to himself. _"Well, she couldn't have gone far." _He didn't think about it anymore while he bathed and got dressed. He decided to forgo breakfast, not necessarily because he needed it, but he wanted to get this whole ordeal over with, and win or lose, he could have his morning meal with Belldandy.

He walked out into the courtyard where he found his goddess and Urd in conversation. He didn't need to know what they were talking about so he waited patiently until they were done and had turned to face him.

"Good Morning, Keiichi." Belldandy said with her usual cheeriness. "I trust you slept well?"

"Like a baby." Keiichi said. "I feel good, I'm confident, and I'm sure that I can handle whatever challenges you throw at me. Let's do this."

"That's the Keiichi I know and love." said Bell. "Okay, let's go over the rules. I will give you three challenges. If you pass the first one, I will unlock your provisional First Class powers for the next two. There's no time limit to complete these challenges. And as long as you comply with the stipulations I've laid out, you can use any spell or procedure that you know to complete the task. Are you ready?"

"Yes." said Keiichi.

Before Belldandy could put out the first challenge. "Do you three mind terribly if take over as proctor for this exam?" A voice from their recent past called out. Belldandy, Urd and Keiichi whirled around to see Hild standing behind them.

It was apparent that Hild had not completely recovered from the Lava Wind Barrage spell. Her face, while still quite alluring did still bear some damage from that all-powerful spell. Instead of a bearing of cocky arrogance, she acted like a panther that had been injured but still had plenty of strength and all of her teeth and claws. Hild was much more wary, which meant that she was that much more dangerous as well as unpredictable.

"Hild!" Bell, Urd and Kei shouted together as they took up defensive poses with spells armed for battle. "What are you doing here?" Urd hissed. "Didn't you get enough of a butt-kicking last time? Are you back for more?"

"Really, my daughter." Hild said icily. "Don't make me laugh. It would take all of you plus at least half the Valkyries to take me out. No, I'm not here to battle you. If anything, I should congratulate you, Keiichi. I had you all wrong. I have to admit that I seriously underestimated you. I had no idea that you could channel your anger in such a devastating and powerful way. I'm impressed, and that as Urd would tell you is very, very hard to do. You had me off guard, and you hurt me bad. But I respect power. And while you and I will never be friends, I've gained a new level of respect for you. Be forewarned, if and when I attack you again, I won't make the same mistake twice. But today, I'm carrying a white flag, so to speak. I noticed that you three were doing a First Class exam for Keiichi Boy, and I just came to lend my services."

"What can you do for us today, Hild? We have everything under control here, so please leave." Belldandy said with a sneer. Bell may have been sweet, loving, and forgiving, but her recent convalescence still burned bright in her heart and thoughts, and she was in no mood to be charitable.

"My, my, my. Someone has had her feathers ruffled today." Hild said "As I said earlier, and I hate to repeat myself, I want to play the part of proctor today and administer my own challenge to Keiichi. Rest assured, I won't hurt him. You have my word as the Daimaikaicho. And as you all know demons take their word very seriously.

Belldandy said "But if we allow you to pose the challenge, this won't be an official First Class Exam. There's no precedent of a demon acting as a proctor for a God or Goddess's examination, but it certainly has to be against the rules."

"Go ahead and check." said Hild.

Belldandy's face went blank again as she searched the rules of examination protocol. A few seconds later, she came to and said, "While only a God or Goddess First Class can act as proctor for a examination, any deity can pose a challenge with the proctor's approval."

"So, do I have the proctor's approval to pose the challenge?" Hild said.

"You've given your word that you won't harm Keiichi, and we will hold you to that." Belldandy said sternly. "Keiichi, do you give permission for Hild to pose the challenge?"

"Do I have a choice?" Keiichi said rhetorically.

"In that case," Belldandy declared. "I, Goddess First Class Belldandy, will act as proctor for this exam and will allow Hild, the Daimaikaicho to pose the challenge."

Hild confidently strode up to Keiichi and looking face to face asked him. "Keiichi Morisato, how much do you love Belldandy?"

In earlier times, this question would have reduced Keiichi to a fit of stammer and blubbering, but this time, his confidence was unmistakeable. "I love Belldandy with all my heart, mind and soul. I would do anything and give all I have for her. You have first hand experience as to the depths of my dedication to her."

Hild appeared to consider this response. "You say you would give all you have for her?"

"Yes."

"I have no doubt that you would. But would you give up your Godhood for her?"

Keiichi hesitated just the slightest bit, but Hild caught it. "Hmm, I seem to have struck a nerve. You've tasted the joys of power that comes with divinity, and no doubt you've found that taste very appealing indeed. But with limitless power comes limitless responsibility. Are you ready for that part of the equation? Are you? Are you willing to give up immortality in order to stay with your goddess?" With that she waved her hands at Belldandy.

Suddenly a web of highly charged energy shot up from the ground and ensnared Belldandy on all sides like an animal in a cage. Her eyes opened wide in fear as she found herself trapped by Hild's magic. Urd screamed. "Hild! You let her go this instant..."

"Or you'll do what, Urdie?" Hild said nastily. "You keep your nose out of this. This is between the boy and me!" With that she waved her hand at Urd and froze her at her spot. Urd stood as still as a statue, mouth wide open, a scream of anger caught in her throat.

"KEIICHI!, KEIICHI! HELP ME!" Belldandy wailed helplessly. "I can't get out. Please help me!" Bell tried every spell she could but the energy cage would not give. She slumped her shoulders and fell to the ground crying. "I'm sorry Kei, I can't help you with this one."

Keiichi stood toe to toe with Hild and looked into the demons hellish eyes. "I don't know what your game is, Hild. But if you hurt one hair on Belldandy's head, The Lava Wind Barrage will be the least of your worries."

Hild said "You won't be able to throw that spell again. You don't want to risk the year's license suspension. Besides, you're not angry enough to make that spell work again. Fool me once, Keiichi, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. And you'll never fool me twice."

Keiichi cast every spell in his arsenal from all four elements, but the cage held firmly.

No matter what he threw, the cage didn't yield. And because he had not had First Class powers released, his Second Class powers were no match for Hild's magic.

"Keiichi, you might as well give it up." Nothing you can cast will free Belldandy from that cage. The only way you can get her out is by renouncing your Godhood."

It finally clicked together for Keiichi as to what Hild was planning. "I get it now, Hild. This is all a part of your constant scheme to rid Earth of the goddesses. Because if I give up my Godhood and become human again, the only way that Belldandy can stay here is if I have a contract with her. And Yggdrasil's wish servers were patched to no longer allow contracts like my original one with Belldandy to be created. So she'd have no choice but to leave and take Urd and Skuld with her. Good try, Hild. But I won't fall for that one."

"Hmph, you never cease to amaze me, Keiichi. You saw through my plan all along, but there's still the matter of getting Bell out of that cage. If you won't give up your Godhood, she'll stay in there forever. So what's your next move."

"I only have one move left to me, but it's not what you think. Belldandy, Invoke Sacred Coupling!"

Belldandy stood up in her cage invigorated with new confidence and shouted, "Keiichi, Invoke Sacred Coupling!"

Instantly the white glow that Keiichi had seen settle over his and Belldandy's hearts in the treatment center glowed brightly once again. Both God and Goddess could feel each others hearts beating in unison. Their powers shared and multiplied to beyond their individual strengths. She could feel his Rock magic surging through her as he could feel her Wind power roaring through him. The two were now one in power.

Keiichi said, "Belldandy, please forgive me for what I'm about to do."

"Do it, Keiichi!"

Keiichi immediately grabbed Hild before she could react and threw his arms around her and kissed her. Hild was completely thrown off track by Keiichi's move, and she realized that this kiss was not out of affection, but as a means to an end. Still she could not stop the enormous rush of power that flowed from her.

Keiichi felt all of the lust and power that Hild exuded. Unlike kissing Belldandy which brought about feelings of joy, laughter and unconditional love, kissing Hild was like embracing sex for the pure animalistic act of satisfying the pleasures of the flesh. There was no love, no kindness, no tenderness. It was raw, pure, unadulterated passion.

That kiss was the ultimate marriage of pleasure and pain. The pleasure of feeling Hild's sexuality head on, but instead of falling to her temptations and seductions, he took all that sexual energy and converted it into pure power. He took the pain of having to put Belldandy through the anguish of seeing her man kiss another and added it to that carnal power. He grabbed as much demonic energy as he could stand and collected it all into one supply. He then fed it to Belldandy who upon seeing Keiichi do what he did, allowed herself to feed on that received power and then applied it to her biggest weakness, now transformed into her biggest weapon. For as has been seen, nothing can stand against Belldandy's jealousy storms. Not even a cage of demon energy created by the Daimaikaicho herself.

Nothing!

Chapter 19

"He passed out again!"

"I'm assuming this happens often?"

"Every time."

"What a wimp."

"Tell me about it."

"Well, who should do the honors? You, daughter dear?"

"By all means, you should."

"I've got a better idea. Why don't we both do it?"

"Works for me!"

K-R-R-R-A-A-A-C-K!

" KEIICHI!"

Eyes jarred open, the pain of a double shock rocketing through his brain. The first sight after being shook from his reverie, two goddesses and a demon looking down on him. "Hi, Keiichi!" all three say sweetly.

"ARRRRRRGH!"

"All right, have you guys had your fun yet?"

"Keiichi, you have no idea of the depths that Urd and I will go to have some fun."

Hild bent over to gaze on Keiichi's face. "Keiichi, I have to hand it to you. You're full of surprises. I would have never thought of using Belldandy's jealousy storms as a weapon, much less fueling it with demonic energy. Once again you've found a way out of no way. I'm betting that had to be the best kiss you've ever had. Let me know when you get tired of Belldandy and want to take a walk on the wild side. I'll be waiting." She blew him a kiss and with vicious rush of wind and lightning, disappeared.

Keiichi got up still a little disheveled. He thought to himself, _"Damn, I have got to get a grip on this passing out after spells. Not only is it painful with Urd always zapping me, but it's also so embarrassing." _He has just gotten his bearings when he was tackled by a very excited Belldandy who nearly knocked him back to the ground.

As she smothered him with kisses, she said "Oh Keiichi! That was wonderful! What an excellent strategy! How did you know that would work?"

Keiichi said "I've seen what you can do when you're jealous, and I remembered what Frigga said about the Sacred Coupling, and I didn't want to give up my Godhood and I sure as hell wasn't giving you up, so I figured this was my last best chance." I'm sorry that I had to use you like I did. Are you all right?"

Belldandy continued to hold onto Keiichi and said. "I'm fine. I drained some energy trying to fight the cage, but I am okay otherwise. And don't worry about the kiss, you did what you had to do to free me and it worked. Although you'll have to make it up to me later today." She winked at him.

Keiichi asked, "So what about the exam. Did I pass?"

Belldandy said, "That's a good question, As far as the challenge posed by Hild, you passed that. However, you never had First Class powers unlocked, and part of the exam is to find out how well you can control First Class powers, so your results have gone to the Department of Examinations for review. They may either pass you outright which is the most unlikely option, consider the exam invalid which is also unlikely, retest you at a later date, or give you credit for passing one challenge and then administer the final two under First Class powers. My guess is the final option."

Keiichi let go of his goddess and said "That makes the most sense. After all, you did say there's no time limit to complete the challenges. I'm no longer in a hurry to get this done."

Belldandy said "Well, okay. We'll pick up the last two challenges tomorrow. That way you'll have time to get some rest."

The rest of the day proceeded without incident. Lunch and dinner were the usual culinary delights as Belldandy laid on a nice spread to celebrate Keiichi's success in passing the first challenge. The Department of Examinations contacted Belldandy and as she predicted, they gave Keiichi credit for passing the one challenge. Later on, after dinner, Keiichi and Belldandy spent the rest of the day just talking and getting in some quality alone time. They were just about to kiss each other goodnight and turn off the lights when the door slid open and Skuld walked in.

"Keiichi, can I borrow a 16mm spanner? I'm fixing Banpei and...WHAT. IS. THIS!

WHY IS MY BIG SISTER IN YOUR BED? WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN GETTING UP TO? HAVE YOU BEEN PUTTING YOUR GRUBBY PAWS ON MY BIG SISTER? YOU'D BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR THIS, KEIICHI MORISATO, OR, OR, OR...I'LL GET YOU KEIICHI! Skuld's face turned as red as a stoplight as she ranted and screeched about this latest assault on her big sister's pristine virtue. Keiichi shook his head, threw his hands up in frustration and said to Belldandy, "I figured this would happen sooner or later. I think we may have to put the rest of the exam off for a couple days. It'll take that long to settle Skuld down and during that time, no one will be getting any rest. Belldandy agreed, kissed Keiichi and headed back to the Tea Room to sleep there. Skuld tailing her and crying and screaming all the way "DID KEIICHI HAVE HIS WAY WITH YOU? IS HE MAKING YOU DO THINGS YOU DON'T WANT TO DO? I BET HE'S MAKING YOU SLEEP WITH HIM. OOOOO I HATE THAT KEIICHI!" Her high-pitched voice ripping through the walls of the temple like a tornado.


	8. Part 8

Chapter 20

As Keiichi predicted, at least two days passed before Skuld had stopped promising to inflict gross bodily harm on Keiichi via Skuld-bombs. At least she didn't catch them in _flagrante delicto._

It took a lot of reassurance by Belldandy that Keiichi was not forcing himself on her. And Skuld seemed somewhat mollified by what Bell had said although she still kept a wary eye on Keiichi and stuck extra close to her big sister to make sure that Keiichi didn't put a hand where it didn't belong.

It was decided that Keiichi would attempt the final two challenges of the First Class exam today. Both of them would be performed with First Class powers provisionally unlocked. Keiichi was more than a little concerned about his ability to handle that level of magic. He was a witness to Urd's reaction when she was granted access to those powers during her exam, and she looked like she was going to explode when the powers hit her. He was afraid that there may not be enough of him left to put in a thimble if he wasn't careful.

But even though he was worried, he still decided that he had to go through with it if for no other reason to prove to himself that he could do it. Keiichi was a stubborn competitor who didn't back down from challenges. That trait he shared with Belldandy, who was a spirited and determined competitor in her own right. Together, they made a formidable team that rarely lost in whatever contest they entered.

But this time, He wasn't competing with Belldandy. He would have her support and her encouragement, but she could not directly help him.

Belldandy called him out to the temple courtyard where she stood with her sisters, Urd and Skuld. Urd was her usual "been there, done that", bored to tears self and Skuld was glaring at Keiichi the whole time, no doubt wishing that he would fail spectacularly as punishment for stealing her big sister away from her.

When Keiichi entered the courtyard, he saw three large gray flat rocks sitting on the ground. Each rock was about 7 feet long, 5 feet wide and about 2 feet thick. The ends of the rocks were tapered to a point.

Belldandy pointed to the rocks and said. "Here's the second challenge for your First Class Exam. You will use a First Class levitation spell to balance these rocks on top of each other on end."

Keiichi said, "That doesn't sound too difficult."

Belldandy replied, holding up a black silk square, "Oh, you will be doing it blind folded."

That changed things. Keiichi gulped and said, "Blindfolded?"

Bell smiled and said, "Yes, Keiichi. Blindfolded. And with First Class powers. And with a wind spell activated that will blow harder as you stack the rocks."

That got Urd's attention. She said to Skuld, "Oooohh!, That's rough. Hey Brat, how much do you wanna bet that Keiichi fails?"

Skuld, seeing an opportunity to profit handsomely at Keiichi's expense, happily said

"I'll bet you a week's TV rights that Keiichi doesn't succeed. He's good with Ground spells, but with First Class powers and he won't be able to see what's he's doing? It's almost a shame to take your bet, Urd. Hope you're ready to go without TV for a week."

Urd shook on the bet and said "Normally I'd agree with you, but I actually think that our little Keiichi can pull this off. Then again, if he doesn't, I'll make his life a living hell for a week for proving me wrong. So either way, I win."

Belldandy walked up to Keiichi, looked him in the eye and said, "Are you ready, Keiichi? I wish you good luck." She moved in for a good luck kiss, but Keiichi silently pointed towards Skuld, whose face showed pure fury. She said, "Oh yes, right. I'm now going to unlock First Class powers. Do you give your consent?"

Keiichi took a deep breath, screwed up his courage and braced himself for what was to come, although he truly had no clue what to expect. "Yes, I give my consent."

Belldandy moved her face close to Keiichi as if she was going to kiss him anyway despite whatever Skuld had to say about the matter. Her hands probed for a spot on the back of his neck. Keiichi stiffened in anticipation as those hands found the spot they were looking for, a tiny, all but perceptible depression at the base of his neck where his skull met his spine. She gently pressed that spot, then pulled her hands away and slowly slid them past his shoulders and down his chest. She had a look of rapture upon her face as she slowly and gracefully backed away.

Time stopped for Keiichi as the First Class powers were unleashed. He heard an audible snap and a millisecond later, the powers roared into his mind and body. This sensation wasn't like the occurrence in heaven when Keiichi was first made a God after hearing the Song of the Goddesses. Those powers embraced him, caressed him gently, beckoning him to submit and give way.

On the contrary, the First Class powers rolled over him like a tsunami assaulting a beach. To Keiichi, it felt he had stuck his tongue in a live light socket and was forced to drink from a charged fire hose. His senses were ambushed by a flood of raw power that struck him down to the very fiber and core of his being. The steady and reassuring hum in his mind that signalled a live connection to Yggdrasil became a deafening roar.

Instead of filling him up gradually, the powers slammed into him and pushed themselves into every cell in his body. His vision was inundated with flashes of heavenly light. Every sense was enhanced by a factor of a hundred. He felt like he had grown to the size of a sky scraper. He stood at the top of the world, and held it in his hand. He felt like the master of the universe.

After the initial shock, Keiichi's body gradually became used to the change in powers. His mind worked so much faster. He felt the increased power in every cell, he could manipulate it with a thought. He thought to himself "**So this is what Belldandy, Peorth, and Lind have to deal with every second, every minute, every hour, every day. Such wonderful, tremendous power. I could get to like this. I can do anything. I can move the world and set the universe on fire." **He started to cackle with glee as the powers surged through his body. **"Yes, yes, yes! This is awesome!"**

The onrush of power eventually faded away. But Keiichi had never felt more alive. Yes, the bestowing of his original God powers were a tremendous feeling of transformation, but these powers took that feeling to an entirely different level altogether. Kei could feel a distinct crackle in the air as he adjusted to his new powers.

Belldandy came up to him and said, "How do you feel Keiichi? Are you all right?"

Keiichi said "This is tremendous. This is what you feel everyday?"

Belldandy said, "Yes, Kei. But understand that it's not enough to have this power. You have to know how to control it. Even with your Ground spells, you'll have to really concentrate on how to modulate these powers. They can get out of control very easily."

He looked around at the temple, his vision already enhanced from his original God powers became even much more clearer and sharper under First Class powers.

He looked at Belldandy and could see her aura. It was yellow-orange signifying joy. She had her hands folded together in a posture of prayer. He also looked around and his eye caught his trusty motorcycle sitting outside the garage, and suddenly he realized how he could control these newly given powers.

He came up with the analogy that his First Class powers were to his Second Class powers as a racing Ducati was to his BMW. As a Ducati race bike has tremendous power and speed, it required intense discipline and respect in order to get the most out of that bike. Race bikes were ultra-sensitive and didn't leave much room for error and sloppiness. And so it was with First Class powers. He noted that.

Belldandy emerged from her silence, placed the blindfold on Keiichi, and said, "You may now commence the exam."

With his eyes covered, Keiichi experienced a brief moment of panic. He didn't even get a chance to test his new powers, and now he had to perform an exam without being able to see. He tried to relax his frantic mind, and concentrated very carefully on the rock placed before him.

Suddenly, his mind's eye opened, and all of a sudden, he could see the rock at his feet almost as if he wasn't wearing a blindfold at all. His vision wasn't as clear as with his eyes open. It was more like a very slight fogginess that obscured the finer details, but allowed the greater ones to still come through.

Just as he did before in practice, he put out all thoughts of Belldandy and the other goddesses out of his mind. He knew he didn't need to impress her. He'd already done that. He wanted to devote all his energy to passing this test. Bell would love him no matter whether he passed or not. He put out his arms at eye-level, palms up and slowly raised them over his head. The image of the rock formed in his mind and the algorithm unfolded, compiled and completed in a single heartbeat. He could feel the weight of the stone in his hands as if he was actually lifting it. As Keiichi poured his power into the heavy stone, it immediately shot high into the air. **"Too much!" **He thought to himself. **"Remember how sensitive these powers are, Keiichi!" **The rock plummeted to earth and Keiichi was just able to stop its fall with inches to go before it hit the ground. He slowly and carefully modulated his power to stand the rock on end, swinging it carefully from horizontal to vertical. He found that all he needed to do was to cast the slightest thought to effect a change in the rock's direction.

Only when he was satisfied that the rock was perfectly perpendicular to the ground did He then allowed it to slam end on into the earth burying it a foot into the soil. He could feel the winds increase with his success. What started out as a mild spring breeze became a medium strong wind. He could hear the goddesses applauding his efforts, but chose not to respond, lest they break his concentration. His mind's eye told him that the next rock was to his right. He turned his attention to that stone and raised it to the vertical. The wind caught the flat surface of the rock and caused it to rotate slowly.

Keiichi had to apply a precise amount of counterforce to compensate for the wind's effect on the stone. He felt his mind starting to fatigue around the edges as the winds became more gusty and started to blow the stone in more unpredictable directions. He raised to the second stone to the height of the top of the first stone, and tried to lower it on end. But the winds still kept treating the stone as if it was a sail and causing it to spin more and more.

Keiichi felt himself losing control of the stone. When he tried to stand the second stone onto the first one, it tipped over and started to fall only to be recovered by Keiichi at the last second. He realized that the edges of the stones didn't provide enough surface area that they could be fitted to each other with any certainty. So he called upon another spell that he was practicing. He called it his 'Stone Chisel' spell.

He visualized a hammer and chisel in his mind and applied them to the stone. He chipped off the sharp narrow edges of the top of the first stone and the bottom of the second stone to create flat surfaces for the two stones to meet. He then slowly lowered the top stone onto the bottom stone where they met perfectly and held.

Urd was standing next to Belldandy. She was impressed by Keiichi's resourcefulness. "Well, Belldandy, Keiichi's doing extremely well on this task. He was smart enough to figure out how to flatten those surfaces to make the rocks balance."

Belldandy responded, "It's not like I told him he couldn't do it. Don't sell Keiichi short, Urd. He's a lot smarter than people think. I chose this task for him because I wanted to see how well he could solve the problem given the few rules given him. I wanted to see his creativity."

Urd folded her arms across her ample chest and said, "I'd never sell Keiichi short, Belldandy. I like to cause him grief, but after the two times that he put one over on my mother, I've learned that he is a formidable, if unpredictable opponent. He's still too dorky and unsophisticated for a goddess such as you, but there's something about him that attracted you to him. And as long as you are happy, I'm okay with it."

Belldandy said, "Urd, I love Keiichi **because** of the way he is. I wouldn't want him any other way. Yes, he's not the most handsome, and he is, as you would say, a little "dorky", but that's not what I love about him. I love him because of his heart, and because of his courage and also despite all of the upheaval in his life, he never gives up.

Think about it, Urd. We have come into his life and turned it completely upside down. But still he allows us to stay with him."

"I think that it's more along the lines that he's accepted that wherever you go, we come along. It is a package deal, you know." said Urd. "Anyway, you know that if Skuld and I weren't living with you two, that temple would be soooo boring."

Belldandy giggled and said "I guess there's some truth in that." Although there were times that Bell wished that her and Kei could go back to the early days, before Urd and Skuld came along. While she loved her sisters very much and would do anything to take care of them, even she had to admit that there were times when she would have liked to spend much more time alone with Keiichi. That time was so long ago.

She was drawn back into the present by Urd's announcement that Keiichi had finished placing the final rock onto the stack and was standing proudly next to his completed masterpiece. The three large stones were balanced perfectly on end each atop the other, and had held firm even through tornado strength winds. Belldandy circled the rock stack as if inspecting it for any evidence of cheating, and finding none, pronounced the task completed and passed. She then turned her attention towards Keiichi. He was a little fatigued from the effort required to perform the task, but overall, he was none the worse for wear.

"I will give you a few minutes to catch your breath and then we'll proceed to the final test." Belldandy said.

Skuld was madder than a wet hen that she lost her bet with Urd and had to give up TV rights for the week. Which was really no big deal because she did have her own TV that Keiichi had bought for her some time ago, but she liked to compete against her oldest sister, and one of those ways was by battling to control what was the lone television in the temple at the time. And old habits do tend to die hard.

"**Dog-gone it Keiichi, why did you have to succeed, I could have had TV rights for the whole week if you'd have failed!"** Skuld whined incessantly. Keiichi paid no attention to the ranting little goddess as he willed himself to relax after the rock stacking ordeal. He was getting used to the new First Class powers although he knew that he still had to be extra vigilant when using them because of their senstivity. It took a tiny amount of effort to generate a large amount of power and that power was fickle and and could choose to bite him back at anytime. But he was satisfied with his performance so far and judging by the look on Belldandy's face, she was pretty pleased as well.

Chapter 21

Belldandy gave Keiichi fifteen minutes to settle down before she pronounced the final task. When he indicated he was ready, she approached him.

With a smile that was part playful and part mischievous Bell said, "Keiichi, your final task is...to kiss me."

Keiichi looked stunned, "Is that all?"

"Yes, Keiichi."

Keiichi looked at his goddess suspiciously. "There's something you're not telling me, but if that's all there is..." He moved forward to kiss Bell when all of a sudden she disappeared before his eyes. Keiichi's mouth dropped open as he looked around frantically to see where Belldandy had gone. But there was no sign of her anywhere on the temple grounds. On the grass at the exact spot where she had stood was a note written on cream colored paper. It had Belldandy's flowing handwriting on it. Keiichi picked up the note and read it:

_Dearest Keiichi,_

_ I have gone into hiding. It is your job to find me. On this note is the first of four clues that will lead you to my location. This note will lead you to the next clue, Each clue after that will lead you to the next clue in the series until you find me. Each clue will be sealed in a magical sphere. These spheres will require you to use the correct elemental spell to open them. The wrong spell will destroy the sphere and the clue within. You must open all four spheres correctly and have all four clues with you when you meet me in order to pass the test. The color of the sphere will give you a hint as to which element to use. I can't tell you which colors are for which elements. That is for you to figure out. You have two hours to complete this task and find me._

_ Love,_

_ Belldandy._

Keiichi went into a full-blown panic. "Oh great!, Now I get to play hide and seek with a goddess. How am I going to find Belldandy in two hours! She could be anywhere in Nekomi City. I don't have a clue about which colors correspond to which spell elements. Urd! Help!"

Urd came over and said "Don't look at me, Keiichi. I can't help you. I'm forbidden to help a First Class candidate with their exam. Although I'd take another look at that note."

Keiichi unfolded the note and looked again. There was a new message he hadn't seen before which had taken the place of the previous message:

_Keiichi, I knew you would be concerned about how you were going to complete this task in the allotted time. The best way to do so is to fly._

_ Love,_

_ Bell._

"Fly?" Keiichi shrieked, "I can't fly."

Urd interjected "Actually, you can fly."

"No, I can't, Urd!"

"Yes, you can."

"No, I can't!"

"Keiichi, we're not going around and around about this and you're wasting precious time. Do you remember when you and Belldandy were in Heaven and you had just been transformed into a God?"

"Yeah, what does that have to do with it?"

"Remember when you and Belldandy were floating above the council chamber in an embrace?"

"Yes! Get to the point!"

"The point is, Keiichi, it wasn't Belldandy that caused you two to levitate, that was you!"

"You're kidding me."

"No, I'm not kidding." Urd said tersely. She looked around as if as if she was expecting for someone to catch her doing something she shouldn't be doing. "I could get into trouble for what I'm about to do, but if you don't pass this test, I'm taking it out of your hide." She warned. "Back to the point. That was you who made you and Belldandy fly.

"You desired to float above the hall in your ecstasy and the desire was made reality. Now that was just floating, what you're going to be doing is flying, which is another thing entirely. I don't have time to teach you the finer points of flying as a deity. All I can do is tell you to just visualize the place you want to go in your mind. Imagine that you have a set of wings, take a good high jump, and there you go.

"Once you get to where you want to go, imagine yourself landing, but be careful. It's always easier to take off than to land. You might end up flying into a building or into a lake. We'll work on the finer points when you get done, but just try not to kill yourself in the process. Now get going!"

Urd waved her hands in a calculated precise gesture and Keiichi soon found himself shooting into the air at incredible speed. "H-e-l-l-l-l-l-l-l-p!" He screamed while shooting through the clouds.

**1:50:00-** With some effort he was able to stop his forward progress and hover steadily. He looked around and could see all of Nekomi City laid out before him. I guessed he was about a thousand feet up. All that quibbling with Urd cost him ten minutes. He took a few moments to get his bearings straight, and then checked out Belldandy's note again. This time there was another new message.

_Mentors and sempais who work with wheels and wings and mighty roaring machines rule this place, but I am not there. Through a mirror, we first met._

Keiichi said to himself, **"That's an easy one. The Nekomi Auto Club Men's dorm."**Looking down at the vast city below him, it took a minute to find the dorm building amongst the thousands of structures that made up Nekomi City. Once he had picked the building he wanted he locked on to that target as he imagined his wings. Immediately, he regained forward motion and went into a steep dive towards the ground. The dorm came rushing up to him as he descended from the clouds. In a panic, Keiichi quickly pulled out of his dive to a shaky landing just short of crashing into the front door of the dorm. He hit the ground hard, rolled a couple times and almost impacted the shelter where he used to keep his bike back when he lived in the dorm. He got up, shook himself off, pride more bruised than his body and headed into the dorm.

**1:47:00- **As he opened the front door, all the memories of his life among the members of the Auto Club came flooding back. The drinking parties, the early morning workout sessions, the meetings where Tamiya and Ootaki held court and hatched their crazy plans to get the club the desperately needed funds they needed to survive. He remembered all the times that the two brutes bullied him into agreeing with their half-baked schemes. But he also remembered the one night that changed his life. The night that a goddess came into his world and offered him a single wish. And now he was back at the place where it all began.

**1:45:00-** He rushed up the stairs as he looked at the clue again. The message hadn't changed this time, but he made note of the sentence, "_Through a mirror, we first met." _Keiichi took that to mean his old room. He hustled down the hall to his old digs. Fortunately, it was still empty. No one had moved into it since he left, or more precisely, was thrown out. Matter of fact, it seemed like the whole dorm was very quiet.

Usually the place was full of energy as the guys were either studying, or more likely, partying. But Keiichi figured that everyone either had classes today or was working on a project for an upcoming race. He walked into his old room and was immediately struck about how small and cramped it was.

For the first two years at Nekomi Tech, this is where he lived, and where his world revolved. But now he lived in a large airy temple, albeit with three lovely and sometimes difficult goddesses. He checked out the futon where he once slept, the low table where he studied.

But he didn't have time to reminisce. He had a sphere to find. He searched the room carefully from top to bottom but had no luck. He knew it had to be in this room. Suddenly he remembered the message in the note. _"Through a mirror, we first met." _ "**Aha!**" he thought to himself. "**The mirror has something to do with this**." He went to the mirror where Belldandy first appeared and looked behind it, all he saw was a bare wall. He thought for a moment. "**Could it be that the sphere is inside the mirror**?" He mused. He put his hand on the surface of the mirror and pushed gently. The glass became as the surface of a pool of water, rippling gently outwards from where he placed his hand. It felt like Keiichi had plunged his hand into a cool stream. He placed his arm in as far as his elbow, but could not feel anything that resembled a sphere. He went further in up to his shoulder, when he felt something round and soft. He gingerly pulled the object out of the mirror. It was the first sphere. It was about the size of a softball, bright red in color, and clear, and slightly warm to the touch. He could see the second clue folded up in the middle of the ball.

**1:40:00-**Keiichi decided that it would be best to open the sphere outside of the dorm. He didn't want Tamiya and Ootaki to catch him by surprise while he was snooping around. He pocketed the sphere and was just about to leave when he heard the front door open and his two sempais tromping up the stairs.

"_Dammit!" _Keiichi said. _"I can't let those two see me here! God only knows what they'd do if they caught me. They would throw me out on my face, or even worse, they'd try to get me to sign on to their latest idiotic stunt."_

Keiichi ducked back into his old room and hid in the closet. Through the thin door, he could hear Tamiya and Ootaki talking.

Tamiya said in his trademark gravelly voice. "So, 'Dai, whaddya think about our chances in da next race?"

Ootaki replied "Well, Den, it all depends on whether we can get enough cash together to build a bike. If we can get Chihiro to sponsor us and donate some parts, we might have a shot."

Tamiya continued, a hint of frustration in his voice. "Yeah. Dat kart race against Chiba made us a bunch of money, but den we ended up givin' most of it back because of all da damages to da track and da Gardening Club's greenhouse." He snorted. "Aah, we can blame it all on Hasegawa."

"Yeah, Den. That Hasegawa, she's the worst director yet. She's even worse than Morisato. I think we need to replace her."

"Yeah, but who else can we get to do da job? No one else wants it. We can't give it back to Morisato, he ain't in school anymore." Tamiya chuckled. "Remember how he hid behind Belldandy's skoits when we asked him to be in that blindfolded motorized unicycle fundraiser? The noive of that Belldandy tellin' us that she won't let him be in that race. She's got him trained, Dai. He's so whipped, it's pa'tetic. Speaking of Morisato, why is da door to his room open? We always keep dat door closed."

"Dunno, Den. I haven't been in there in a while. Maybe one of the other guys went in there for something and forgot to close it."

"That might be it. Lemme take a look around." Tamiya walked into Keiichi's room and looked around. Keiichi was sweating bullets as he hoped and prayed that the big lummox would not look into the closet. Tamiya stopped in front of the closet, looked at the door suspiciously, reached for it, and then decided not to bother opening it. Keiichi let out a big sigh of relief. "Well, Dai. Nothing wrong here. Let's go to my room, we got some drinking and scheming to do. "

"Right you are, Den, my man!"

The two uglies continued to walk down the hallway, still bitiching about the perceived ineptness of Hasegawa's leadership of the club while Keiichi fumed about the false accusations made by Tamiya and Ootaki.

Keiichi liked Sora Hasegawa very much, and tried to help her over her insecurities many times. It's not like she really wanted to be the director of the Auto Club. She had no choice really. She had drawn the short straw and according to the rules of the club, had to race the then director, which was Keiichi, and beat him to become the head of the club.

Since then Hasegawa had worked extremely hard to try and raise money and status for the club, but Tamiya and Ootaki were the members of the "Executive Council" that stood over the club director and they had constantly got in her way and loused up her plans and ended up doing more harm for the club than good.

Keiichi so wanted to go to Tamiya and Ootaki's room and give them a piece of his mind, but he looked at his watch and saw that he only had an hour and a half to complete the task. He looked up and down the hallway and finding the coast clear, he quietly snuck down the stairs and out of the dorm.

**1:30:00-**Once outside, he retreated to a place where he couldn't be seen. He pulled the sphere out of his pocket and took another look at the mysterious ball. Belldandy's clue said that the color of the sphere would indicate the type of elemental spell required to open it. The sphere was a bright red and the warmth to the touch told him right away that he would need a Fire/Electricity spell to do the job. Belldandy never told Keiichi the level of spells needed to open the spheres, and so as not to break the sphere by trying a spell that was too powerful, he decided to play it safe and just use a simple spell that encased the sphere in a small ball of electricity.

He closed his eyes and held the sphere out in front of him. He visualized the sphere being surrounded by a electrical field. He was still not totally in control of the Fire/Electricity realm of spells and considering that he was using First Class powers, he had to be extremely careful that he didn't blast the thing into oblivion. So he only used the slightest trickle of power to get the job done, which was in many ways, much harder to control than a full-on high-powered spell.

He created the electric field and surrounded the sphere with it. Slowly and carefully he manipulated the power flow to dissolve the layers of the sphere away to expose the coveted note inside. When he finally was able to pluck out the note, the sphere disappeared with a pop.

The second note read:

_Dearest Keiichi, congratulations on getting this far. Only two more clues to go. A creature despised by many watches over this place. A place where someone you love lays her head at night. But it is not me. Hurry my love. I await your kiss upon my lips._

_ Love,_

_ Bell._

This clue was slightly more difficult for Keiichi to solve. What place did he know that was guarded by something that people didn't like? The second part of the clue was a little easier. There were only two people in his life that Keiichi loved other than his parents. One was Belldandy, and the other was...

"**Of course."** said Keiichi. **"Megumi's house. And it was guarded by a third class Earth Spirit." **The spirit in question haunted the house where Megumi stayed for years because a metal stake was driven through the ley lines that connected it to the powers of the Earth. Belldandy removed the stake and allowed the energy flow to recommence freeing the Earth spirit. In appreciation for Belldandy's help, the spirit vowed to watch over Keiichi's sister and keep her from harm, and he was allowed to do so in his chosen form as a rat.

Keiichi formed the image of Meg's house in his mind, visualized his wings, pushed hard from the ground, and soared away.

Chapter 22

**1:25:00- **As he flew along, Keiichi gained more confidence in his flying abilities. He was able to do spins, rolls and dives. He learned to read the winds and applied the thermals to his flight allowing him to ride them to thousands of feet into the air and gliding and diving back down. He marveled at the freedom of not being tied to the Earth. To soar gracefully with the birds. To play in their world. He began to love flying almost as well as he loved riding his motorcycle. He resolved that when he found Belldandy, they would go flying together. And maybe she could teach him a few tricks.

But time was wasting and he put aside the aerobatics in favor of direct, straight and level flight to Megumi's house. But for all the abilities that Keiichi was developing while in the air, one important part of the experience still eluded his attempts to grasp proficiency, and that was landing.

Try as hard as he might, Keiichi still had never fully mastered that part of the equation. This was apparent when he arrived over Megumi's house. He descended quickly, but could not control the speed of his fall. Panicking and flailing helplessly at the air he descended faster and faster and was only able to pull out and avoid what would have been a painful and embarrassing impact at the very last second. Still he hit the ground with a thud and rolled across the narrow street from Megumi's apartment.

He got up slowly, surveyed the damage which was minimal, and walked across the street to his sister's place. He didn't see Megumi's bike out front, but that didn't mean she wasn't home. He didn't want to knock on the door either because he didn't have the time and wasn't in the mood to schmooze with Megumi. He just wanted to get the sphere and leave before anyone in the area got suspicious. He quickly looked in the window and gasped at what he saw.

Megumi was definitely home and she clearly was not alone. She and a guy that Keiichi had never met were on the couch making out. Both of them still had their clothes on, and it didn't look like they were going much further than just cuddling and kissing. Keiichi felt a storm of emotions as he saw his sister in the throes of a romantic encounter for the first time.

Like all big brothers, he felt like somehow he had to protect his younger sibling from those who would try and steal her innocence. While Megumi could be a real pain in Keiichi's backside because she was so perky and a bit of a smartass, she was still very much his little sister and he did promise his parents Keima and Takano that he would look out for her.

But at the same time, Megumi was of age and more than capable of taking care of herself. Keiichi knew she had other boyfriends. One of them dumped her and she took it so badly that she got rip-roaring drunk and stormed into the temple reeking of beer and sake and crying the blues about how every boyfriend she ever had eventually dumped her.

But Keiichi decided to just let her do her own thing and that it wasn't his right to intrude into her life any more than necessary. But he still had to get that sphere. He had just a shade under and hour and twenty minutes to go. And Megumi's kiss and cuddle session with this unknown guy was complicating matters. He had to provide a distraction that would get those two out of his until he could get that all-important sphere. He jogged around to the back of the house and noticed a window.

He looked through it and could see the kitchen. It was nicely laid out and Megumi's latest attempt at dinner was boiling away on the stove. Keiichi hit upon an idea for a distraction. Standing back a few paces from the window, he unleashed a controlled blast of wind that was strong enough to break the window, but cause no more damage. He hoped that the sound of breaking glass would rouse the two lovers to run into the kitchen and investigate long enough for him to get into the house and grab the sphere.

Meanwhile, back on the couch, Meg and her new beau were having a lot of fun playing tonsil hockey. His name was Hiroyuki Yoshida. He was in the same year as Megumi, and she met him in her aerodynamics class. He was tall and thin with short spiky hair and he rode one of those crotch-rockets that were the rage of all the young guys at Nekomi.

He wasn't the most attractive guy on campus, but he did have one redeeming feature in Megumi's eyes. He was one of the few guys that wasn't intimidated by Meg's title as Queen of Nekomi Ridge. He knew that she was a crack motorcycle rider, and while he had never beaten her to Nekomi's satellite campus where aerodynamics was held, he always gave her a good battle and she respected that.

Not only that, Hiro loved Megumi's wit and outgoing nature. As far as Meg was concerned, Hiro was the best of a lackluster string of boyfriends that couldn't deal with her status or her style. She gave as good as she took, and a lot of guys were turned off by that. She definitely intended on keeping Hiro around as long as possible.

Both of them heard the crash coming from the kitchen, "Hiro!" Megumi whispered,

"I heard glass breaking. I think someone broke my kitchen window. I gotta check it out."

Hiro said "Babe, lemme go with you, someone might be trying to break into the house." They untangled arms and legs and ran into the kitchen where they saw the entire kitchen window had been blown out and shards of glass were all over the stove, kitchen table and floor. Keiichi hid out of sight and figured that it would take a good ten minutes or so to clean up the mess, which was more than enough time get in, find the sphere and get back out with nobody the wiser.

Quickly he ran around the front and tried the door. Luckily for him, it was unlocked. He quietly snuck into the house and headed for the bedroom. Looking at the latest clue he ran to Megumi's futon and checked under the pillow. Sure enough, the sphere was there. Grabbing it he was about to head for the front door when he heard a stern voice cry out "Halt!" He looked down and saw the guardian of the house, the Third Class Earth Spirit that Belldandy assisted. He was in his rat form and not too pleased that an intruder had gotten past him. He took up a defensive posture between Keiichi and the door and in a deep aggressive voice, said "Who are you, and why are you in this house?"

Keiichi whispered, "You remember me. I'm Megumi's brother, Keiichi. You threatened to take over my body when we first met. I'm friends with Belldandy."

"Ahh yes, I do remember you." The spirit said cautiously. "However I don't remember you being a God. Are you trying to trick me?"

"No, I'm not. I am a God, I don't have time to explain how it happened. You have to believe me and Belldandy will vouch for me."

"Well, if Lady Belldandy will speak for you, that's good enough for me. Why are you here?"

Holding up the sphere, Keiichi said with haste, "I need to get this magic sphere to Belldandy as soon as possible. But I can't let Megumi know that I was here. Can you provide a small distraction? Just enough to keep those two busy while I leave the house? All I came for was the sphere, I'm taking nothing else."

The rat/spirit thought about it for a moment and said, "Leave it to me. Give Belldandy my regards. Farewell." The rat ran off towards the kitchen. Keiichi took off for the front door and left the house with just a moment to spare. He had just closed the front door when Megumi and Hiro came back into the front room. "Hiro" said Megumi

"Did you just hear the front door close?"

"No, didn't hear a thing." Hiroyuki said "But what was that rat doing in the house? Maybe you need to set some traps or something."

Megumi reassured him. "Don't worry about him. He's my guardian. He watches over me." Hiro shrugged his shoulders and said "Oookay, do you want to get back to where we were?"

Meg put her arms around Hiro and with a saucy grin, said "Oh yeah!"

**1:15:00- **That little fracas cost Keiichi ten precious minutes. He retired to a quiet inconspicuous place and examined the sphere. It looked just like the first one except it was a deep blue. Keiichi was a little thrown by this one. Because the sky was blue, it could mean using a wind spell, or because the ocean was blue, it could require a water spell.

He didn't want to leave the choice to mere chance. So he held the sphere out in front of him, stared at it intensely and concentrated. He tested the sphere with the lightest touch of Wind magic, not enough to raise a spell, but enough to sense the internal vibrations of the sphere. He was looking for some indication of compatibility between the magic of the sphere and the magic he was about to attempt. The sphere was giving off vibrations that Keiichi could just barely detect, but they seemed out of phase and not quite along the same lines as the Wind magic that Keiichi was generating. That told him that Wind was out of the question. But just to make sure, he repeated the same procedure with a light Water magical essence. The sphere's harmonics and the Water magic matched perfectly. Water was the way to go. Still holding the sphere out in front of him, he generated a localized Waterspout and threw the sphere into it. Instantly, it started to dissolve, leaving the clue intact. Keiichi grabbed it whereupon the remains of the sphere washed away in the spout.

_Dearest Keiichi,_

_You are clearly on the right track. A friend of ours owns a place named after a famous plane. We labor there out of love for the things that move us from place to place. One more to clue to go. Hurry Keiichi, my heart and body yearn for your touch. _

_ Love,_

_ Bell._

Keiichi's heart was lifted and his mood was lightened as he took off towards Chihiro's bike shop, Whirlwind.

Chapter 23

**1:05:00- **Chihiro Fujimi was hard at work in her shop changing out the cylinder heads and pistons on a Kawasaki Ninja 900. The owner was one of the local hot shots who liked to try their luck and skill on the twisty winding roads around Nekomi City. Those roads were famous throughout Chiba Prefecture for attracting many of the regions best street racers. And late at night, they would come out of the woodwork to try their mettle against the challenging roads. Most nights, the worst thing that would happen is that the riders would fill the night air with the screech of tuned-up four cylinder engines and the pungent smells of burning clutches and rubber. And they usually were long gone by the time the police showed up.

But sometimes one or two of the racers would get a little squirrelly and end up running off the road, or in the case of the owner of this Ninja, missing a shift and nuking the cylinder heads, valve gear, cams and pistons. But Chihiro didn't mind, because most of the local racers were her best customers. She was even known to sponsor some of the more promising local talent in the weekend amateur races. As long as it got the Whirlwind name out into the public eye and insured a line of customers, they could destroy as many engines as they wanted.

Chihiro was at home with her hands buried inside an engine. A born tomboy who never fit into the more traditional female social whirl at NIT, she was an ace mechanic coming out of Nekomi Tech and turned her abilities into a career as pretty good pro racer.

But her biggest passion was to build and fix bikes. So she quit her race team, and opened up her repair shop. And she found a like-minded soul and fellow traveler in Keiichi Morisato, so she hired him and his beautiful and mysterious girlfriend with the odd name of Belldandy as mechanic and shop assistant, respectively. They both worked very hard helping Chihiro to get her business off the ground. And Belldandy possessed the ability to get customers to buy just about anything, whether they really wanted the item or not. A gentle smile and a kind word from her was enough to get even the toughest, cheapest customer to pry open their wallet. So Chihiro had no problem taking advantage of Bell's salesmanship.

But she hadn't seen Keiichi since that crazy Auto Club meeting almost a month ago. She remembered crashing the temple with Ootaki, Tamiya and Sora Hasegawa and press ganging Keiichi into opening the temple for an impromptu meeting that, predictably, turned into a booze-fest which ended up with her and the rest of her charges very drunk and passed out in the Tea Room.

Chihiro could really use Keiichi's help right now. She was a little irritated that he hadn't called to let her know that he was taking a leave of absence. But then again, it wasn't a full time job, and she didn't make Keiichi or Belldandy sign any kind of contract stating a schedule or a commitment of a set number of hours per week.

Her mood had improved greatly when Keiichi walked through the door. He looked like he was a great hurry. "Well, look who came back from the dead." Chihiro said with a heavy dose of sarcasm. "If it isn't Keiichi Morisato himself. Sit down and help me with this cylinder head."

"Love to, Chihiro." Kei said hurriedly, "But I can't stay. I have to go get something from here for Belldandy."

"You mean this?" Chihiro said holding the last sphere in her right hand.

"Yeah, gimme." Keiichi reached out to grab the sphere from Chihiro, who quickly pulled it away.

"Ah, ah,ah! You're not getting it until you give me a hand with this. You haven't been to work here in almost a month, you don't tell me what's happening, and then you come in out of the blue, see me hard at work here and don't offer to help? No way, Keiichi." Chihiro said angrily.

She continued. "Belldandy came by earlier to give this to me and she told me to make sure you get it, but I'm not going to give it to you without extracting my pound of flesh. So if you'll help me for at least a half hour, you'll get this ball thing. Deal?"

Keiichi sighed heavily and said "Deal." He knew he didn't have a leg to stand on. His life had become so topsy-turvy over the last month that he'd forgotten completely about Chihiro and Whirlwind. Getting past Tamiya, Ootaki and even Megumi was easy. But Chihiro held all the cards in this hand and he knew that he had to play along until he got what he wanted. He just hoped that he could get the clue and figure it out before time had run out.

He sat down and asked. "What happened to this bike?" Chihiro grabbed a wrench and started loosening bolts. "One of the local riders was going hot through a turn on Nekomi Ridge and downshifted instead of upshifted. He completely wadded up the top end of the engine."

Keiichi surveyed the damage and whistled. "I'll say. He'll need a whole new set of cams, springs, valves and pistons. Sure wouldn't want to get this guy's bill."

Chihiro chuckled. "Maybe he'll learn not to miss shifts at 10,000 rpm next time. Speaking of speeding along, how is the road that you and Belldandy are traveling down?"

Keiichi said with some pride. "We're doing pretty well. Every day's better than the one before."

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Have you kissed her yet?" Chihiro was all but bouncing up and down on her stool waiting to hear the answer, but she was way too cool to show too much emotion.

Kei grabbed another wrench and started helping her tear down the damaged cylinder head. "We're well beyond the kissing stage!"

"Ohhh!" Chihiro cooed. "My little Keiichi's becoming a man before my very eyes. Be still my beating heart! How much beyond the kissing stage."

With a sly grin and a wink, Keiichi answered, "That's for me to know and you to find out!"

"All right!" Chihiro cried. "Congratulations, you and Bell make a charming couple."

"Thank you." said Keiichi. "All I ask is that you don't mention all that to Tamiya and Ootaki. I don't want word to get out all over the school. Not to mention having those two lunatics getiing all over my case."

"Your secret is safe with me." Chihiro said. Although Keiichi didn't completely believe that she could keep such a juicy tidbit of gossip to herself. He pretty much assumed that after he left the shop, word would be all over NIT that Keiichi, Belldandy, and her sisters were all but having all-out orgies at the temple. Thereby making it impossible to spend more than a few minutes on campus for even a simple social visit without constant raunchy comments and even worse, requests to join in.

Before long, Keiichi had gotten himself into the rhythm of the work, and focused his concentration on repairing the broken Ninja. To Keiichi, fixing bikes was more than just work. It brought fulfillment and a level of joy into his heart that almost rivaled spending time with Belldandy in terms of happiness. He could spend all day just tinkering and fixing his bike as well as anybody else who put one before him.

That passion was why Chihiro hired him and why he was willing to put in long hours at the shop even for the pay that Chihiro gave him. She wasn't cheap, but she was still growing her business and still didn't have the large volume of clientele bringing in enough cash to raise his wages up from where they were. But he never complained, and worked hard and did a good job and took whatever Chihiro paid with a smile.

The two mechanics stopped the small talk and dug into the bike with a renewed sense of purpose. They settled into that rhythm that only existed between two professionals who loved what they did and were good at it.

Tools were passed from one greasy hand to another. Old broken parts were pulled out, and replaced with new. Keiichi's God powers were handy in that they allowed him to work that much faster and more precisely, but he had to be careful not to use them to their fullest in order to raise suspicion in Chihiro. He just wanted her to believe that he had gotten better, but not so much as to show her up. She was a very proud and highly trained mechanic, rider, and woman, and Keiichi had quite a bit of respect for her.

Keiichi had just about lost himself in the excitement of helping Chihiro when he looked at his watch. Ten Minutes! "Oh Damn!" He thought to himself. "I got so caught up in fixing the bike that I lost all track of time. Chihiro! I have to get going. I need to see Belldandy right now! Can I please have that sphere?" he pleaded.

Chihiro tossed him the sphere. "Here you go. Thanks for the help. Will I be seeing you into work soon?" she asked expectedly.

"Definitely." Keiichi said. "Did Belldandy say where she was going"

"No, but she was in a bit of a hurry. I hope everything is all right between you two."

Hurrying out of the shop, Keiichi said "Never better!"

**09:15-**Keiichi flew out of the shop and across the street. Looking at the sphere he could see that it was the brownish-gray color of Earth. Only Earth magic was left. This time though he didn't even have to perform a spell, the sphere opened automagically to reveal the clue.

_Dearest Keiichi,_

_You have opened the final clue. I am on the last of these heading out tonight where the wind comes sweeping down from the majestic mountains and rolls across the deepest ocean. Where the wind carries so many joyous voices. This is my favorite place alongside the one I chose to love. Hurry Keiichi, Time grows short. Don't be late because if you are, all this may be for naught._

_ Love,_

_ Bell_

**08:45-** Keiichi wondered, "This may be for naught? What the hell is she talking about? I need to get to the river and catch that last ferry!" He pushed off from the ground and shot off towards the river.


	9. Chapter 9 and Epilogue

Chapter 24

Belldandy was waiting on the upper deck of the ferry as it slowly chugged across the river. The current was calm. The breeze was light and refreshing as various ships, sailboats, power boats and the occasional fishing trawler went by.

She was dressed in one of Keiichi's favorite outfits: a medium brown suede jacket and a matching short skirt over a light brown top and knee high leather boots. She wore that same outfit the night they exchanged gifts on their first White Day together.

She remembered that day so well. How she worked so hard and worried so much about finding just the right place to bring Keiichi so that she could give him the gift and apologize for not knowing that she was supposed to give him chocolate for Valentine's Day. She tried so hard to show her man a good time, but she just couldn't get it right. But Keiichi didn't care. As long as he was with her, he didn't care where they ended up.

Bell looked to the sky and hoped that Keiichi was going to be on time. She was confident that she made the clues easy enough for him to find her. She also hoped that he was also able to master the art of flying enough that he didn't get hurt along the way. Most of all, she hoped that she didn't have to follow through on what would happen if Keiichi didn't get there on time.

She found out about her involvement in the situation when the representative from the Department of Examinations called her back to let her know that they were giving Keiichi credit for passing the first challenge of the exam. She didn't want to think about it at all as if merely thinking about it would cause it to happen.

Only a few minutes left. She kept looking up for a telltale sign of Keiichi's arrival. She started to worry. Is he okay? Did he get lost? Or worse, did he find the whole thing too hard to do and gave up? She was close to giving up hope, when she felt a familiar feeling in her breast. She looked up to see Keiichi flying overhead, circling. She waved her arms frantically and jumped up and down in an effort to signal her location to him.

**03:00-** Overhead, Keiichi had located the ferry and saw Belldandy's animated motions. His heart had just about leapt out of his chest as he started his descent. Down and down, faster and faster Keiichi flew through the cloudless sky. He was so excited to get on the deck and embrace his goddess that he hadn't accounted for the movement of the ferry in his descent calculations. He started panicking and beating the air about trying to adjust but his speed and rate of descent were too much to overcome. He landed in the water about 50 feet behind the ferry with a giant splash.

**02:15- **"Keiichi!" Belldandy shrieked. She ran to the aft end of the ferryboat and watched as Keiichi spluttered and flailed about in the water. But she could not help him as long as he had time left to complete the task. She was utterly helpless. She wanted to save him, but she was duty bound to have him work it out on his own. She continued to watch him as he tried to swim after the ferry. "Keiichi!" she called again, with agony in her voice. She closed her eyes and prepared for the worst. She didn't want it to end like this. She didn't want to let it go. She opened her eyes just in time to see a massive wave catch Keiichi in its crest and launch him towards the ferry boat.

He rose high into the air, flew over the railing and landed most unceremoniously on the deck at Belldandy's feet. He was coughing and sputtering up water. His clothes were soaking wet and he looked like a drowned rat.

Keiichi mustered up the last of his strength to use the nearby railing as a support to help him get to his feet and with one final mighty effort, he launched himself into Belldandy's waiting arms and gave his goddess the best kiss she ever had.

Belldandy closed her arms around him, holding him tightly and not letting him go until she was good and ready. Their lips met and Keiichi immediately felt renewed and energized by Belldandy's mighty power. Keiichi shouted at the top of his lungs, "Time!" and he looked at his watch...Three seconds.

Chapter 25

Keiichi and Belldandy collapsed to the deck of the ferry boat with arms still locked around each other. They swayed back and forth, keeping each other warm, safe and secure. Belldandy nuzzled her head against Keiichi's shoulder, saying over and over again, "You made it, Keiichi!, You made it." Tears were rolling profusely down her face. Her face was the picture of relief. Keiichi kept silent, allowing Belldandy to melt in his arms. "Everything's okay, Belldandy. I'm all right." He gave her space and time to compose herself. When she had, he let her go and looked into her eyes. "Well, did I pass?" he asked.

Belldandy's face went blank while her eyes showed that vacant look like she does when she's searching for something. She held out her hand and another message cube materialized in it. She handed it to him and waited in anticipation as he opened it:

**Department of Examinations**

**Testing Notice# 128557-3667**

**Approval Code LR76648399B790**

**This notice is to inform Keiichi Morisato, God Second Class, Limited License**

**that he has successfully passed all the required phases of the First Class Exam and upon the recommendation of the Heavenly Council, and by the Authority of the Department of Examinations, He has been elevated to the exalted rank of God First Class, Limited License. Keiichi Morisato may acknowledge receipt of this notice and declare his acceptance or rejection of his new rank by notifying any God or Goddess First Class within 72 hours Earth time of the receipt of this notice. **

**The Department of Examinations congratulates Keiichi Morisato on this memorable achievement and furthermore, commends him highly on the unusual level of originality and creativity displayed in the carrying out of this exam.**

Keiichi threw his hands in the air and shouted with a voice of victory. "I passed! I really, really passed!" Belldandy shouted as well, "Congratulations, Keiichi. I knew you could do it. I had faith in you all along." She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight.

After a moment, Belldandy became all business.. "Keiichi, the rank you are about to undertake carries some very powerful rights and privileges. It also carries very important responsibilities and duties. Even more so than Second Class. Your standard of conduct is much higher and more is expected of you. Consequently, any breaches of conduct as a First Class Deity will carry much heavier penalties than as a Second Class.

I must ask you now, in all seriousness. Are you willing to accept all the rights,

privileges, responsibilities, and duties that come with being a God First Class? If, for any reason you do not feel that you can accept these conditions, say so now and no penalty will come to you. But understand that by refusing to accept this rank, you are not guaranteed another chance to sit for the exam again. You may never receive another opportunity to be rexamined again and if you are given another chance, you would have to be reexamined with different challenges and a different proctor. However if you choose to accept this rank, you may also say so now."

Keiichi came to his feet, helped his goddess up and looked into her eyes with all the seriousness he could muster. "Belldandy, I have put my all into taking this exam. I have dedicated my life and all that I have to you. I have never backed down from a challenge and with you by my side, I can face anything that Heaven, Hell and Earth can throw

at me. And so, I accept the rank of God First Class with all rights, privileges, responsibilities, and duties that apply."

A tear ran down Belldandy's face as she declared, "Your intentions have been received and accepted. Welcome, God First Class Keiichi Morisato." She hugged and kissed Keiichi again and then said, " Let's go home, Keiichi. I will cook you a nice meal to celebrate."

Keiichi said, "I'm all for that. If you don't mind, can we fly home? I need a little help with my landings, as you can see."

A joyful and happy Belldandy said "Yes, by all means." She held his hand as they pushed off from the ferry boat deck and took to the skies headed home to Tarikihongan Temple.

Chapter 26

Flying high over Nekomi City, Keiichi and Belldandy took a moment to watch the sunset. The sun was just coming down over the horizon and had turned the late spring sky bright red. The refreshing breezes carried the happy couple along as they took their time letting the winds blow them where it may. They were in no hurry to get home. They had all they needed right there with them. They had each other.

Keiichi said, "It was a long but beautiful day."

Belldandy agreed. "Yes it was. You passed your exam, although I have to admit I was a little worried."

"Well, I would have been here a lot sooner if I didn't have Chihiro shame me into helping her. I had lost all track of time."

"I know how you get when you start working on bikes. Keiichi. You are so focused and driven and love what you're doing so much that if you did come late, it would have been because you were so taken up with helping Chihiro out."

"Speaking of which, Belldandy. What was the deal with the last part of the clue, that I had not shown up in time, this could all be for naught?" Keiichi said soberly.

Belldandy hesitated for a second. She really didn't want to get into it right now, but Keiichi would have to know eventually. "If you had been late, I would have told you about it then, but being that you were on time, it's not a problem now. It's nothing to worry about."

"Bell, you've never hidden anything from me before. You can trust me. Anything you tell me, I won't hold against you. Why won't you discuss this with me?"

"It's not important right now, Keiichi. Because you passed the examination, what was on my heart is no longer relevant. One day, I'll tell you. But not now. Can we please go home?" Belldandy said.

Keiichi knew that Bell was holding out on him for some reason which is something she rarely ever did. Bell always said what was on her mind. Whatever it was must have caused Belldandy no end of concern, but out of respect for her wishes, he let it go for now, but he would get to the bottom of whatever was making her so evasive.

"Okay, Belldandy. I have no right to make you uncomfortable and push you to do something you don't want to do. When you're ready to talk about it, you know what to do. But, you know that I am always here for you."

" I know Keiichi, and I don't like keeping things from you. Our relationship is built on trust and being open with each other. But in this one case, I must ask that you respect my feelings on this, and let me tell you when I am ready."

"Let's go home, Belldandy."

" Yes, let's."

The two deities stopped drifting with the breeze and flew home with all deliberate speed.

A few minutes later they landed on the temple grounds. The sun had finally set and twilight had set in. There were no lights on at all in the temple, which was unusual considering that Urd and Skuld were supposed to be at home and at least a light was almost always on in either one of their rooms.

"It's too quiet here, Belldandy." Keiichi said warily. "Usually a television is blaring, or Skuld is blowing something up in her lab. I wonder what those two crazy sisters of yours are up to?"

"I don't know, Keiichi. But I agree, something doesn't seem quite right. "Do you think..."

" I hope not. I'm not ready for another big scare like that right now. I just want a nice quiet night and to go to bed."

The two made their way to the Tea Room door. The quiet surrounding the temple was deafening in its own way.

Keiichi slid open the door and was nearly blinded as the room lights flashed on and a deafening roar of "Surprise!" assaulted his ears. He recovered just in time to see the Tea Room decorated with balloons, streamers and a large banner stretched across the room that said, "CONGRATULATIONS GOD FIRST CLASS, KEIICHI!" He goraned. He didn't like surprises before the goddesses came to live with him and since that time, while coping with the unexpected was part and parcel of having Belldandy, Skuld and Urd in his life, he still was not thrilled with being surprised.

Urd bounded across the room, a giant bottle of sake in hand, and by all indications, most of that bottle had already been drunk. She stopped behind the couple, threw her arms around their shoulders and herded them both quite brusquely into the Tea Room. "All right, you two. Get your asses in here and start drinking."

Skuld was at the dining room table just like last time, shoveling ice cream into her mouth, although she stopped long enough to issue a grudging congratulations to Keiichi on passing his exam.

And in a pleasant surprise, both Peorth and Lind were also there. Peorth eschewed sake for champagne instead and was drinking the sparking wine out of a crystal flute.

And even Lind had gotten into the spirit, drinking neither sake nor champagne, but a giant mug of what looked to be very strong dark beer.

She had dropped the usual ice cold demeanor that marked her as Heaven's most feared warrior goddess. She actually had a very large and quite attractive smile on her face, although whether that was because she was actually happy or drunk, could not be determined. She wasn't dressed in her usual severe white battlesuit, but rather in a loose scarlet red gown of authority that softened her appearance considerably. She stood up and approached Keiichi and held out her hand. "Congratulations, Keiichi on a successful exam." She said in her usual firm and clipped tone, but this time, there was a hint of relaxed easiness in her voice. Her handshake was still strong and direct.

"Hello, Lind. Please forgive me if I seem a little surprised to see you here. Especially dressed like that, drinking a beer and without that six foot long battleaxe." Lind let out a unexpected laugh, and said "I understand how you must feel right now. You're used to seeing me all business and no nonsense, but I owed you a social call, and life as a Valkyrie isn't all fighting and aggression, we Valkyries are allowed to have time off to enjoy ourselves.

Demonic activity is very low right now and I had some leave saved up, and now was as good a time as any to come down and congratulate you on your exam as well as spend a few days here on Earth. I hope that is all right with you."

Despite Lind's casual stance, Keiichi didn't want to do anything to set her off so he said, "Of course, we have plenty of room and I'm sure Belldandy would love having some new faces to talk to and cook for."

Lind took a deep pull from her mug and remarked, "The challenge that Hild posed to you, I was impressed by how you were able to take Belldandy's weakness and use it as a weapon against Hild. A bit unorthodox, but very effective."

Keiichi sheepishly responded, "I came up with that idea out of the clear blue sky. I had no idea whether it would work, but it was worth a try."

"Apparently, you're very good at thinking on your feet. Too bad only Goddesses can become Valkyries. We could use that kind of resourcefulness in our ranks. But enough shop talk. Today is a day of celebration. Have a drink." She handed her massive mug to Keiichi. It was much heavier than he expected and he almost dropped it. With a look of caution, he asked, "What kind of beer is it?" Lind said, "It's not quite beer, but it is very similar to a brew that's very common in Heaven. Obviously, we can't bring the real thing down to Earth, but I was able to make a reasonable copy." We call it Angel's Breath.

Keiichi lifted the heavy mug to his lips and took a tentative swallow and nearly gagged when the bitter and fiery brew hit his tastebuds. The drink started out very bitter, but then became very smooth and almost sweet towards the end with lots of very spicy complex flavors. It was also very strong as Keiichi could feel a little light headed after just the one swallow. "That's some pretty strong stuff." Keiichi gasped.

"Actually, this brew is pretty tame compared to some of the other drinks we have in Heaven." Lind said with a note of surprise. "Would you like to have some more?" she asked, offering him the mug again.

" On, no Lind." Keiichi said as he put his hands together and bowed. "I'm afraid that while I'm a God, I still have very human tastes." He thought to himself. _"Damn, I'm glad that Ootaki, Tamiya and Chihiro aren't here. They start drinking that stuff, there's no telling what kind of hell they'd raise!"_

Lind said, "Well, if you ever want to have some more, I have plenty. I will be talking to you a little later. I'm sure you have other business to tend to." She lifted her mug in salute to Keiichi and strode away.

No sooner had Keiichi recovered from seeing a very different side of Lind, he turned around and Peorth grabbed him and buried his head into her ample chest. "**Bonsoir, **Keiichi! **Como t'allez vous?" **said the Rose Goddess, as she tipped her flute to her lips and drank deeply from the champagne. "It is **tres bien** to see you again! Come drink with me, and we shall celebrate your great victory." Keiichi could barely answer while his face was still in up close and personal contact with Peorth's black-clad cleavage. He frantically hoped that Belldandy wasn't watching this display, or else he'd have a lot of explaining to do. "Mmmph. Hello, Peorth. How did you know I passed the exam. Belldandy didn't tell anyone else but me."

After a few moments, Peorth released him and shoved the champagne flute into his hand. "Keiichi, the results of all God and Goddess exams are made public through the news feeds in Heaven. Everybody drops what they are doing to watch them, especially when it was found out that you, of all people, were up for First Class.

"The fact that the first human to be made a God in history passed the First Class Exam on his first try after receiving his powers only a month ago was unprecedented. So Lind and **moi **absolutely had to come down and offer our congratulations! It seemed like only yesterday that we were congratulating you for being made a God in the first place." Peorth seemed genuinely excited for Keiichi although he was wondering whether Peorth was going to try and seduce him again, as she had attempted so many previous times.

Because he was a God now, the backlogged wish contract that existed between Peorth and Keiichi no longer existed. But Keiichi sensed that she had some real feelings for him. Although Peorth loved to flirt with Keiichi mostly to push Belldandy's buttons, underneath it all she really did like him. He wondered why Peorth, unlike Urd, never had a love of her life. It's wasn't because of her looks. Peorth was a very attractive and sexy goddess. She was also vain and self-absorbed, which could have been potential turn-offs to potential suitors. But such questions could only be answered by the goddess herself and frankly, Keiichi didn't want to get into it with Peorth.

When Peorth had finally settled down and sat uncomfortably close to Keiichi, he asked, quite curiously, "Peorth, I'm just wondering. Now that I'm a First Class God, I notice that I still have a Limited license. What do I have to do to get an Unlimited license?"

Peorth looked at him as if he was a particularly dim student and said, "You're kidding, right?"

Keiichi said, "No, I'd like to get an Unlimited license."

Peorth answered, "That would be impossible, Keiichi."

"Why?"

"Because, an Unlimited License gives the holder the authority to grant wishes and enter into contracts with humans."

"And?"

"Only Goddesses can hold Unlimited Licenses."

"And why is that?"

Peorth felt like she was trying to teach a two year old. "Think about it, Keiichi. If a human called us to have a wish granted, would they rather be attended to by someone who looks like **moi**?" she said while posing with all the sex appeal she could muster, "Or by someone who looks like **vous?" **She said while pointing disdainfully at Keiichi.

"I guess I see your point, Peorth. But why is it that only Goddesses can grant wishes or serve as Valkyries? What do Gods do?"

"Other than getting in the way and making life a pain in the butt for Goddesses, not much. Peorth chuckled. "I mean they can serve on the Heavenly Council and they have jobs and functions like us Goddesses do, but only we can grant wishes and serve as Valkyries. That's the way it's always been. Why all of a sudden, are you interested in dealing with contracts?"

"I don't know, just curious, I guess."

"Don't think that being a field goddess is all roses and champagne, Keiichi." Peorth said. "We have to deal with any human that we're assigned to. And some of their wishes are pretty unusual to say the least, not to mention, quite distasteful. But as long as that wish doesn't cause destruction to the Earth or another human being, we have no choice but to grant it." Peorth swirled the champagne in her flute gently as she spoke. "Do we have to talk about such a depressing subject when there is so much to celebrate?" Come, Keiichi, let us drink and dance and have fun. It isn't everyday that a God makes First Class on his first time trying and so quickly after coming into his powers." She rose up from the floor, gathered Keiichi up with her and swanned him about the room in a crazy waltz as he tried desperately to keep up.

Meanwhile, Belldandy and a quickly sobered up Urd were in the kitchen. Urd was standing behind Belldandy while she was at the table preparing a quick spread for the celebration.

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Urd asked.

"No, not yet. I didn't think it was important. He passed the exam. That's all that matters, Urd." Belldandy answered with the barest hint of annoyance in her voice.

"He has to know eventually, Bell. You can't hide it from him forever. He can see it in your face."

"I know Urd. I know."

"So what are you going to do, Belldandy? Keep it from him forever?"

"If I have to."

"We both know that's not in your nature, Bell. Your conscience won't let you do that."

"I have no choice, Urd. If holding out and hiding secrets from him will protect him, as I have sworn that I will, then I will do it."

"I hope you know what you're doing. For your sake, for all of our sakes."

" I do, Urd. I do."

Epilogue

Back in her condemned apartment, Marller was still recovering from the beatdown Urd administered during the attack on the temple. She had never been beaten so badly by an opponent in her life. And Hild was quick to give her incompetent assistant a thorough butt chewing. Marller didn't bother to defend herself, for she had no excuse. She just let her boss rip her up one side and down the other.

Hild had finally gotten the sting of defeat off her chest by dumping it on Marller.

The beleaguered demon mustered enough courage to finally speak to her boss.

"I apologize greatly for our defeat, Lady Hild. I bear all responsibility. Please spare me! Marller pleaded in a pathetic whiny voice.

Hild was seated in the main boardroom of Niflheim, watching Marller stumble over herself to apologize for the umpteenth time. And she was getting extremely annoyed by this most un-demonic scene. "Marller, will you please shut up? Apologies accepted. As much as I hate to admit it, we both bear some blame here. We underestimated that Keiichi Morisato. He and Belldandy are more in tune with each other than we thought. And they finally figured out how to use the Sacred Coupling. But fear not, Marller, for you see, sometimes in order to move forward, you have to take the occasional step back."

Marller, as usual, didn't have a clue as to what Hild was saying, a fact that was not lost on the Demon head. She lectured Marller, "We suffered defeat twice in two attacks, but at least we found out that the larger portion of our ultimate plan is working to perfection. A war, Marller is made up of hundreds of smaller battles. We don't have to win them all, we just have to win the important ones. And the solution we have in place will insure that we will do just that." For someone who had tasted two rather embarrassing defeats, Hild was still supremely confident.

Marller said, "I don't understand, Lady Hild."

Hild said, "Of course you don't, Marller. But instead of trying to tell you about what is going on, I will just show you." She made a beckoning motion with her hand to someone off-screen. At her command, a tall man wearing pastel green robes of authority entered the room and stood beside Marller. He was of advanced age, although he still retained an air of top physical condition. He had short cropped hair, an elongated face and a short cropped mustache and beard. His face was contorted with a sneer that barely hid his contempt for the organization that he represented. His eyes were a powerful shade of blue-green. He looked like a very dangerous person who radiated a powerful command presence.

Hild rose and put a hand on the man's shoulder, and said, "Marller, let me introduce you to Baldur. He is a senior member of the Heavenly Council. He is also a very, very good friend of ours."

**The End of "The Test of a God."**

**Credits**

**Once again, thanks to the Communication Skills staffs at both the Community College of Allegheny County and Robert Morris University for awakening the writing muse within me. Thanks to Kosuke Fujishima-sensei for letting us fanboys and girls mangle his characters, and thanks to those who've read this stuff and thought that it was worth your time to provide feedback. **


End file.
